For the sake of love and pokemon!
by Just a Romantic
Summary: I hardly know what this is about anymore. But there's plot somewhere ! And AAML
1. Watch out Togepi!

Author's Notes.

This is a romance pokemon fanfic. I'm sticking with just Indigo league right up till Brock goes with Professor Ivy. After that I'm bringing them home and sending them to school (like all good kids should!). So if you're wondering where all the story line from the Orange islands and on went, I dropped it.

Yes, there will be original characters. No, I wont be one of them. By setting up the story the way I have, I don't have much of a choice otherwise.

I'm sending them all off to college for this story. Mostly from Misty's point of view, but I'll bounce around I'm sure. Im not very good at staying on topic.

Speaking of things I'm not good at! Grammar and Spelling! I apologize for burning your eyes ahead of time.

This is my first fanfic, so I don't know all the lingo for posting in the beginning. Sorry.

I think that covers it from now please be gentle.

Much love,

Romantic.

Edit. Apparently there was a fluke in the upload that I missed. Sorry for that, I think I fixed it.

*1*

Misty grumbled as she walked into her new dorm room balancing Togepi in one arm and a box in the other. Arriving late wasn't like her but she had already missed orientation. The only good thing out of it was she had gotten a room all to herself. Though, slowly she was starting to doubt even that blessing as she began to realize the need for human contact rising up inside her.

She turned looking through the cold empty white room. It was one large area, with a small closet and a closet like bathroom at one corner, the kitchen (If you could call it that, having a small fridge, stove top oven, and sink crunched together with an island counter walling it all together hardly made for a kitchen in her eyes.) adject from that, and a bed oddly placed next to a window with a small desk next to it for homework.

"Not even a bed in here for you guys, Togepi." Misty sighed as Togepi gave a giggling squeal for a response. "Oh well. We'll fix it up a bit. Maybe some curtains and a rug will look nice." She nodded to herself, dropping the box on the bed and flopping down next to it.

"I wish we hadn't missed the first day." She closed her eyes, remembering the chaos and cries as she tried to leave her sisters for a second time. Ever since she had filled out like her sisters had and stopped looking so tomboyish, they'd stopped picking on her. They took her more seriously. Even with new respect, having three older sisters was more than she wanted to deal with. Deciding to leave again was hard but vital. She needed to be her own person just not another famous Cerulean gym leader. So her sisters had thrown her a large surprise going away party the day she was supposed to arrive.

She watched as Togepi got up and bounced off the bed and onto the floor, exploring the new living area. "Oh, the others! Staryu, Horsea, Psyduck, come out and look around!" The college had only allowed four pokemon per student and they had to be registered at the beginning of the year. Misty had spent hours and hours looking over all her pokemon trying to decide which ones take (with Psyduck traveling along whether she liked it or not.). Misty went and filled the bathtub with water, placing Horsea inside. "There you are Horsea. I know its not much now, but after I figure out the lay out of campus, I'll bring you down to the ocean to play, alright?!" She smiled sweetly, patting Horsea on the head. Horsea didn't seemed to mind, squirting water here and there. Misty laughed.

"I guess I should look around myself. Wouldn't hurt anything, I still have another day before classes start." She nodded, decisively.

"You all behave-"Misty scolded, picking up Togepi again. "Im going to go have a look around campus."

Misty opened the door still rolling over her classes, campus and new friends in her mind. Everything was much more overwhelming than she thought it would be. She was just lucky that some of their underwater shows started bringing in enough money to pay for her classes.

Suddenly Misty bumped into someone. She fell back at the site of a man leaning against the door frame. He was tall, almost a head taller than her, with large shoulders. The brim of his hat covered most of his face as he stood in the dark hallway. Everything except a sly little smile. Jumping forward he grabbed her hand before she could fall fully over.

"What are you doing standing there like that!" Misty screamed, shaking his hand off. "You can scare a person to death standing there. You're lucky I didn't hurt myself!"

"Sorry!" He laughed rubbing the back of his head. "I guess I didn't think about that."

"Do I know you from somewhere?" She squinted, brushing her long red hair from her eyes. " You seem familiar some how."

"You better!" He stepped into the room, pushing his hat up out of his face, and twisting it backwards. "I am the greatest pokemon master ever, you know."

"Ash Ketchum! How dare you scare me like that!" A little excitement rose in her, but she suppressed it, still angry at him. How dare he scare her like that. He could have just knocked!

"Sorry, I try to reserve the scaring for the ladies. Not tomboys like you." She punched him, marching off into her room. "Aaah.. I guess I deserved that." He laughed again. At least that much hadn't changed she thought.

"Right you did!" She calmed herself, clenching Togepi as it tried to squirm from her arms. "How did you know I was here?"

"I saw you walk past. My room is just down the hall. Brock's here too ya' know."

"Oh wow! I thought he had started a breeding center a while back. Though I had heard it was near by."

"Yeah! He did. It's about ten miles that way-" He gestured "Twenty-five if you follow the road though. I'm sure he'll tell you about it later."

Ash walked up, looming over Misty. She looked down nervously, her stomach tying up in knots. Running her fingers up and down her suspenders she had lost track of what to say next. He wasn't the awkward little boy from Pallet town anymore. Ash had grown up, and it wasn't easy to miss.

"Dropped the tiny shorts and half shirt huh?" Ash raised an eye brown, eyeing her.

She blushed, even with obvious efforts not to. "Its nice to have a varying wardrobe you know. Not so easy while traveling."

He nodded, thinking. "I better get going though. Brock and I have some um.. Socializing to do before all the classes begin." He laughed at himself, walking out the door. "Stop by sometime, Pikachu would love it." He shut the door behind him, and she collapsed to the floor.

"I wonder if just Pikachu would like to see me?" She placed Togepi down and it giggled and ran circles around her. "This is too much for my first day. Now I don't know where anything is, and Ash!" She laid out on the carpet with a sigh. After a few minutes of talking with herself she decided it was probably safe to go out now. "What do you think Togepi, ready to go?"

"Toggeeppiii." Togepi jumped in front of her and bounced.

She laughed, snatching Togepi up and grabbing a jacket. "I guess this year will be exciting after all."

The campus was huge. There was a battle ground for each pokemon's specialty. The college not only had degrees for English, history, science, math, art and music majors but also majors of the pokemon sorts. Misty was going into water based studies. Since this college was on the cliffs overlooking the ocean, it was perfect for marine studies, and water battling. Her classes this semester were English, history, math and techniques for catching water pokemon.

"Lets go check out the ocean around here Togepi. I bet Horsea would love it!" She zipped Togepi into her jacket, leaving her arms free. Togepi curled up, happy in the warmth. "It is a bit chilly out, isn't it Togepi?" The leaves were already beginning to change. Signs of an early winter were everywhere. The mountains far off in the distance were starting to peak with snow. Misty wasn't too fond of winter, it made catching the water pokemon a cold and unpleasant task. Luckily they had a warm indoor pool to go to once the snow fell. But even with an early winter, snow wasn't likely to fall till mid-December.

Misty walked, rolling over her classes in her mind. Along side the path at this section of the school was a large green house. It stretched for about half a mile, and was four stories high. "Oh, I read about this." Misty said out loud to herself. " This is where grass pokemon train and the botanist work together. I bet they have a grass pokemon battling area in there as well. Which means the cliffs shouldn't be too far away!" Misty skipped, picking up her pace some. She could already smell the sea salt from where she was. "I just love the ocean!"

Heading down the stairs towards the ocean, Misty could see other pokemon trainers having small battles and just gathering for fun. The beach stretched for miles in either direction and islands spotted the horizon. "Look at that Togepi! There's lots of different pokemon here!" Togepi squirmed, popping out the bottom of her jacket, and running off towards one of the groups having a battle. "Togepi don't! Come back!" Up ahead a large Blastoise and a Gyarados were battling. Misty screamed as she tripped over a rock and Togepi found its self in the middle of an all out battle.

Misty tried to pull herself but fell down again with a heavy pain in her ankle.

"Is this yours miss?" A young man stood, holding Togepi out to her. She cried, snatching Togepi from him.

"Togepi what were you thinking! You could have been seriously hurt out there." She hugged Togepi close, and it squirmed and giggled as if nothing had happened at all. "Thank you, Thank you so much for saving my Togepi."

"Looks like I need to save you next." He said with a charming smile. The boy was tall and slim, with short dirty blond hair and large blue eyes. "Here, let me help you up."

Misty latched on to the extended arm, allowing him to pull her up.

"Think you can stand on it?"

"I think so." She squeaked quietly, applying pressure even though she knew she shouldn't. "See just fine."

He laughed. It was a loud, happy laugh. "You're a funny girl. Hold on tight to that Togepi." He reached down, scooping her up. "Obviously to proud to say you're hurt. I'll bring you over to those benches to sit for a while. I need to finish my battle at least." He turned, facing his Gyarados. "Gyarados you can take it from here! I know you can do it." The Gyarados roared, and the battle continued.

"Your Gyarados battles without your instruction?" Misty was shocked and impressed all at once.

"Gyarados and I are so close, he usually knows what I'm going to say before I do. It's just easier to let him handle it himself at times like this. Sometimes I wonder if I'm really the trainer at all." That laugh again. Misty was awe struck. Gently he set her down on the bench. "Hold on to that Togepi while I finish this please. I don't really like jumping into the middle of a battle more than once a day." He chuckled, then ran back to his battle.

"Please take you're time, I'll be just fine!" Misty watched as the man and his Gyarados beat consistently and almost wordlessly one opponent after the next. He handled each battle with poise and knowledge she never expected.

As it started getting dark, and the beach became flickered with bonfires, the man ran back to her. "Feeling any better?"

"Much!" She said happily. "You're an amazing trainer. I can't believe how quickly you beat everyone." He blushed and she smiled at it. Humility wasn't something she was used to.

"No, no. I'm not all that great. I just have a fantastic Gyarados is all."

Misty smiled, and let Togepi down. Now that the battles were dispersing she wasn't too worried about the baby pokemon so much. "Oh!" Misty realized. "I never asked your name."

"Alex." He replied, extended a hand out.

"Misty." She shook his hand, butterflies fluttering excitingly in her stomach. "I appreciate all the help today. You're quite the Knight in shining armor."

"Anything for a lady in need." He bowed from his seat. "Mind if the Knight take the Princess back to her castle?"

"As long as the Knight can help capture the Princess' pokemon for her." She gestured towards Togepi who managed to climb half way up Gyarados. "I don't know how Togepi manages to get into these things sometimes.

"Togepi's fearless. Gyarados return." He held the pokeball up with one hand, catching Togepi as it fell with the other.

"You don't know the half of it." She exclaimed with a sigh, slowly easing herself onto her leg. She winced, but only slightly and tested her abilities slowly. It seemed she could walk, slowly and with a heavy limp.

"Need any help?" Alex held the squirming Togepi in one arm, offering his other to Misty. "As a Knight I must always be available to assist you."

She laughed, latching graciously onto his arm. "So, my knight. Is this your first year in college?"

"Yes, in fact it is. I don't know if I can get used to having a roommate though." He shrugged. "The one I have is bearable, but kind of an oddball."

"Oh? I didn't get a roommate. I guess it gives my pokemon more room though."

"Your keeping yours in your room? Most people leave theirs in one of the holding areas that match their type. Like my Gyarados is much too big for my room. So I can either keep him in the holding area, and pick it up whenever I want, or keep him in his pokeball. I think a natural habitat would keep it much healthier than it its pokeball."

Misty imagined trying to drop Togepi or Psyduck off anywhere and felt a small headache coming on. "No, my pokemon are small enough. I think I'll keep them with me. Without a roommate there shouldn't be much complaints." Misty sighed, realizing what kind of blessing she'd received by not having a roommate.

They chatted as they walked, with hardly any silence along the way. Misty hardly noticed the ache in her ankle or the time that had passed until she finally reached the door to her room. Misty was surprised at his knowledge of water pokemon, and about the college campus. She hadn't even thought of reading up on it so extensively before applying, just happy that there was such a nice college that would except her.

"What time is your first class tomorrow my Princess? I'd like to make sure you're still alright tomorrow morning."

" I don't know if you wanna be up that early. Nine am tomorrow, English room 311 in the main building."

He laughed, and grinned widely to her. "Looks like I'll be able to see you again after all. We have English together. Also, my rooms at the end of this hall." He motioned down past her room, to the end of the hall. "Last one on the left. If you need anything, ever. Please ask. For now, good night. I'll see you tomorrow morning." He winked and bowed and she giggled despite herself.

"Yes, my knight. Tomorrow it is." She curtsied then closed the door slowly. Walking to the bed she found all of her pokemon asleep already. Horsea and Staryu in the tub, Psyduck on the floor next to the tub. Misty shook her head and dropped onto the bed. She almost couldn't sleep at the excitement of a new day, but managed to anyway.


	2. A Prime Surprise

*2*

Misty woke up to a loud knocking on her door. Grumbling she stood up, throwing on her robe and opening the door.

Alex laughed. "No alarm clock?"

"Oh my god." Misty placed her hand on her forehead. "I totally forgot! You can go on ahead if you want. No reason for us both to be late on the first day."

"No reason for us to show up at all. All they do is go over what we're doing and reading over the next semester. It college, they don't take role all that often." He shrugged, very nonchalantly. "Plus, you're still injured. So, at least you have an excused."

"The only thing injured right now is my brain." She motioned him in. "Sorry, after yesterdays excitement I haven't had time to decorate." She went to her closet, rummaging through for something to wear. Finding a dress and sweater she snuck into the bathroom changing quickly.

Exiting in a whirl, she stole up her bag from off the counter.

"With moves like that we shouldn't be late at all."

"I just don't know if I should leave Togepi here. He's kind of a trouble maker."

"How do you know if he's a boy or a girl?" Alex picked up the small pokemon twirling it all about. "Sometimes you can tell by color, size, or parts... Ya know?" He glanced awkwardly at her. "But Togepi's so rare, they don't have much information on him. How did you find out?"

"Mother's intuition." Misty placed her hand on her hips with a smile. "That and girls are shy, delicate. Togepi defiantly isn't."

"Well, put Togepi in his pokeball. You shouldn't have to worry about him then." Alex stood up, handing Togepi back to Misty.

"Togepi doesn't have a pokeball." Misty held Togepi thoughtfully up, watching him squirm happily around. She was amazed how happy he was, no matter what. She almost hated the idea of needing a pokeball for him at all. He wasn't a trouble maker, just overly curious and there was nothing wrong with that in the end. "We found Togepi as an egg. When he hatched I was the first thing he saw. So now he follows me everywhere. Like a little duckling."

"We? Your family?"

Misty laughed at that. "No, there was no way my sisters would ever travel around. Camping out amongst the dirt and bugs." Misty imagined that, and the complaints that would follow. How it would be too cold, or too dirty. No, her sisters were out of the question there. Misty couldn't really imagine anyone other than Ash and Brock as traveling companions when it came down to it. After a few moments of reminiscing Misty explained everything, forgetting altogether why Alex was here in the first place. She did her best to explain everything she could. Leaving out parts like being a gym leader, and over exaggerating Ash and Brock a bit. Alex didn't need to know about Ash and Brock, really. Even as hard as she tried she couldn't help showing Ash in a slightly romantic light. Each adventure bringing them closer.

"Seems like you had a bit of a crush on that Ash kid." Alex pointed out with a sly little smile.

"We were young then. Maybe I did?" Misty leaned against the floating island counter. She couldn't help still feeling a bit warm thinking of Ash even now. Maybe it was just the past that made her warm she thought. Either way thinking back made her happy and wishful. She looked up, sighing, forgetting even Alex was even in the room. Misty had not thought about the adventures she had for a long time. She remembered when Togepi hatched and how she lost the battle to win him. Togepi refused to go to anyone else.

Misty only came back when Alex was in front of her snapping his fingers. "Stay with me Misty." He was laughing, finding her reminiscing amusing she supposed.

"Oh, I'm sorry." She shook her head. The last thing she needed was to dwell on such childish memories. I'm an adult now, she thought, those things don't matter anymore. What's past is past.

"Anyway, since we've missed English anyway, lets eat." He walked into the kitchen, throwing open the kitchen cabinets. Alex froze, realizing they were all empty. "At my dorm." He appended.

Misty chuckled. She had barely unpacked, let alone found time to purchase food to fill her cupboards. In order to go shopping she had to take a bus from campus to the nearest town, which was miles away. Luckily she had picked up some of those eco-green cloth bags now she didn't have to worry about the paper bags ripping on her way home. "I planned on going shopping tomorrow since I only have one class then, and its over with by noon."

"What were you going to eat till then?" The school supplied kitchens in the dorm rooms because the only cooking they did was for pokemon. They even offered cooking classes for cooking pokemon food.

Misty placed her finger on her nose. "I've gone much longer than one day without food before." More memories. She couldn't seem to get past them today. There was so many times they had gotten lost and needed their pokemon to scavenge for them. Sometimes even that was fruitless. Pokemon centers were a blessing for the three fearless children. "Plus I have such a beautiful figure to keep up." She placed her hand on her hip, posing.

"Starving is my first choice as well. Come on Princess, I'll make you breakfast."

He had a point, she supposed. Not being one to pass up a free meal she placed Togepi in her bag and hooked in on her shoulder following Alex out into the hallway.

Alex's room was clean but chaotic. There was posters of girls and pokemon everywhere. His room was set up basically the same as hers, except it was bigger with two desks, two closets and two beds instead of one. The bathroom was still the same dinky bathroom. The kitchen was stock full of food, not all of it healthy.

On the counter was a Pikachu munching graciously on a bowl of food. It sparked happily when it saw them, little bits of lightning dancing around its rose colored cheeks. "Look like my room mate is out right now. That's great! We can eat peacefully and not listen to his obnoxious banter." He placed his hand on top of the Pikachu who immediately lit him up. Alex fell down, groaning.

"You obviously don't know much about electric type pokemon do you? They don't take nicely to most people." Misty did her best to hide her laughter as she pulled Togepi out of her bag. Ignoring the icy glare from the wounded man on the floor she set Togepi on the counter next to Pikachu. The Pikachu jumped up on Misty's arm and climbed up onto her shoulder, nuzzling her. Misty stood still, not wanting to make any sudden movements to scare the such loving pokemon.

Alex stood up, brushing himself off looking a bit sore. "Doesn't take nicely to most people huh?"

"I-I can't explain this at all. " Misty nuzzled the Pikachu back scratching lightly behind it's ear. "He is just a sweetie, isn't he?"

"Pi pi pi!" The Pikachu jumped off Misty onto the counter chasing after the Togepi who managed to find its way up the cupboard.

Misty plucked Togepi from its climbing positing. "I can never take my eyes off you, I swear." Looking over, the Pikachu seemed to almost look relieved. Misty scowled wondering how she could tell the apparent emotion of the Pikachu. Most of the time emotions of the pokemon only made sense to its trainer, or people it has become close to. For the most part, because they've learned to interact with each other. She brushed it off, for all she knew she could be wrong anyway.

"My room mate's Pikachu hates me for some reason. I just can't figure it out."

"Maybe it just doesn't know you yet. It's only been two days." Misty bent over, looking over the Pikachu. She felt a flood of nostalgia as he sparkled at her. "Alex, who is your room mate?"

"Don't worry about him. He just a punk. What do you want for breakfast?" He opened the fridge, which seemed to contain more beer than food, and rummaged through it. "I've got eggs, bacon, and I think I could make pancakes."

"I'm not too picky, usually I'm just happy to have food." After that year traveling around she never forgot how lucky she was to have food around. Sometimes not eating because she knew she didn't need to, whether or not it was healthy.

"Eggs and bacon it is." He pulled out a skillet, throwing it all together. "Did I mention I'm not so good at cooking?"

Misty burst out with a chuckle. "It's alright, neither am I. Though, I do think you're supposed to cook the bacon first, and crack the eggs." She laughed harder, knowing he was just teasing her.

With a smirk he brushed his hair from his eyes starting on the bacon. He flicked on the radio sitting at the end of the counter and danced and sung along as he pushed the bacon around with his spatula. Misty laughed until tears overwhelmed her eyes.

After a few songs they were both in there using utensils as microphones and jerking more than dancing in ridiculous sort of ways. It stopped after Alex grabbed Misty's hand, twirling her. He held her close till they both blushed. The radio sang "start a move that everyone knows,the awkward pose and in the meantime, her eyes finding me.." He dipped her, which Misty was thankful for, allowing her to break eye contact. It didn't last long though. In a series of events that Misty guessed could only happen to her Alex tripped over Togepi and Pikachu (Who both were prancing and dancing along with them.), bringing him down on top of her. She squeaked as she landed with a thud, losing her breath when Alex quickly followed. This can't get worse at least, she thought closing her eyes with a slight twinge of pain.

"Anyone home? I smell bacon." A voice came through as the dorm door flung open. Misty recognized it immediately and willed herself to play dead. It seemed the color of her cheeks gave her away as Ash looked over the counter. "Misty..?" He sounded almost doubtful. " I didn't realize you two even knew each other, let alone like this."

"Shut up Ash. I just tripped and landed on her is all." Alex helped Misty up. "Are you alright Princess?"

"Im fine." She mumbled, brushing herself off.

"Princess?!" Ash roared, throwing himself onto his bed. Alex placed the bacon on a plate, and started cracking eggs into the hot grease. Misty placed herself on a stool in front of the kitchen island still a blushing red. She fumed quietly about her luck, suddenly shy about her dress with Ash in the room. The urge to flee sat hard in her stomach, and she fidgeted with the idea of listening to it.

"Don't worry about him." Alex whispered as he sat the plates down in front of her. Misty watched as Pikachu ran over to Ash and jumped on top of him. Now she understood everything.

They chatted sparsely over breakfast (Ash stealing the left overs from off the counter.) and Misty excused herself, her next class coming up. "Next time I'll make you breakfast." She said with a smile.

"Sweet, more food." Ash sat back down on his bed, and was quickly zapped by Pikachu before Misty needed to say anything.

"Thanks for coming." Alex smiled back, but his voice gave him away. He was obviously irritated.

Misty spent the rest of the day unhappy. Her stomach turned at the idea of Alex and Ash in the same room. Her stomach turned mostly at the thought of Ash. What sort of things would he talk to Alex about? Would he tell Alex about the Cerulean Gym? Ash had such a big mouth.

The rest of her classes ended up being exactly what she thought they would be. An introduction to the curriculum, expectations for the semester and so on. She wasn't surprised, which only help her distracted attitude for the rest of the day.

Alex was right about the pokemon day care. She passed by it on her way to math class. She thought of putting Horsea and Staryu in, knowing at least those two would behave while they were in there. She wouldn't want to put Togepi in, and doubted that Psyduck would know what to do while in there. Thinking of Psyduck, she shook her head. When was that stupid pokemon going to evolve already?

She spent the rest of the night thinking of Ash. "Damn it Ash." She groaned, rolling over and stuffing her face in the pillow. She didn't see his face when he walked in. What was he thinking? Was he upset? Did he even care? Why should she care! It's not like he ever bothered with her before. They hardly had spoken after that year together. They were basically strangers!

After hours of rolling around in bed not sleeping Misty got up and changed into a pair of blue jeans and knitted gray sweater. She left all her pokemon in her room grabbing only her key from off the counter and a flashlight just in case.

"I'll just walk this off." Misty announced to herself, heading out of the dorm rooms.

Finding a random path she kicked at the pebbles along the ground. She didn't understand why she was so stressed out anyway. They hadn't even spoke really. He seems to just swoop in randomly and mess things up. She flinched at the site of a caterpi in a near by tree.

"I hate bugs." She followed the path down and into the woods the further along she went the less lights there was along the path. She didn't mind though the moon was high and bright in the sky and the more she walked the more she could see the stars.

After about an hour there was no lights left. But the moon was enough Misty only needed the flash light periodically when she heard a noise off the path. As the paved path became a dirt trail Misty started calming down more. "I'm just over-reacting. Being silly." She told herself. When the dirt path became a grassy clearing, she was happy she had decided to go for a walk at all. "This is exactly what I needed." Misty placed herself on a near by large rock.

It wasn't long before Misty noticed her mistake though. Around the rock, in the grassy field, was a small group of primeape. All of them now were looking at her, pounding their fists on the ground and swinging them around in the air.

"Oh no. I didn't bring any pokemon with me." Misty curled up, making herself as small as possible, doing her best not to look like a threat. It was too late though, one of the primeapes grabbed her throwing her towards a tree.

Misty screamed. She hit the tree hard branches and leaves falling and snapping as she rushed threw them. Closing her eyes tightly she prayed something softer than those rocks were underneath her. Maybe that those primeapes will have left. In the instant she hit, she started to lose consciousness and as she fell she knew she'd doomed herself.

Regret.

Something caught her as she fell, held her up.

Relief.

Her eyes blurred and it looked to be a vine. She couldn't stay focused. Misty could hear the primeapes surrounding her. But not only her, someone else was there.

"Bulbasaur, set her down. Pikachu, thunder shock. Are you even with me?" He shook her gently, then brushed her hair from her eyes.

The best she could manage was a groan, rolling her body into his. She could feel something wet on the back of her neck and in her hair but was hardly concerned about it.

"Misty, Misty..Damn--"


	3. A Dash of Heroics

*3*

Ash walked down the hall, munching loudly on a large roll he'd grabbed on his way to class. In such a rush he couldn't eat it till now. So he walked casually and ate happily. Ash stopped, looking down at Pikachu. He motioned the roll down to the yellow little mouse who quickly snatched a chunk off for himself. After a few quick grins they continued walking, side by side, eating their rolls together.

It was late. Somewhere close to seven or eight at night, though Ash really didn't know for certain. He'd spent a large time after class talking to a couple of girls about Pikachu. His friend found much attention with the ladies who would giggle and paw over him in class. There was one girl he especially liked after his Biology class who had a little Pikachu of her own, she called "Precious."

Ash snorted at the name. "Precious." He said out loud, rolling it sourly over his tongue. "What kind of nickname is that for a pokemon?" Pikachu sparked in agreement, still munching on its bread roll. "But, she was cute wasn't she?" Ash grinned devilishly as he thought about her. Jessica was tall, slender with little hips and long legs. Her short blue hair brushed at her shoulders. On her back was a tattoo of a stylized 'R' drawn along her left shoulder. He liked thinking about her, but wasn't much interest in her after that.

He paused as he came to Misty's room. He almost didn't want to know what was going on between Alex and her. It had been such a ruckus that morning and he still didn't know why Alex was on top of Misty when he walked in. He hadn't really pried into it too much, using the situation instead as a way to get food without too many complaints.

Facing her room, he thought about knocking, talking to her. He had found himself so bold the first day he saw her. But he'd lost his nerve quickly, and had left without talking to her like he wanted to. He regretted that. Ash wanted to ask her all sorts of questions about her life. What did she do after they parted? How was her sisters and the gym? Was she seeing anyone?

He turned and moved quickly from her door. There wasn't anyway he could ask her anything. They'd only spent a year together. Sure they had written, stayed in touch. It wasn't the same thing.

Sighing, he reached his door. On it, there was a note held to the door by a little heart sticker with the letters T.R. stylized in a way that he vaguely recognized. He couldn't quiet figure out from where. The note was two pages folded in half. On top it read "Ash Ketchum" written with swirls and a various amount of hearts.

'A love letter?' He thought, snatching it off the door. The heart ripped, splitting the T.R. into two separate halves. Inside there was more swirls and girlishly made handwriting saying:

_"Be at this location by midnight please. You'll be surprised.- T.R."_

Smirking he flipped to the second page. It was a map of the grounds opposite to the right of the main building. Right in the middle of nowhere was a small heart marked in red. Underneath in small handwriting said _"Don't be late, I'll be waiting."_

Opening the door to his dorm room he glided in, feeling manlier than ever. "I'm home!" He mumbled through the last of the bread he chomped on. No one was home though. Ash seared wondering if Alex had gone off with Misty again. He debating about crashing them again, figuring they would just be at Misty's dorm.

Deciding against it, he looked at the map in his hand. "Well Pikachu, what do you think? Should we go find some treasure." He grinned stupidly.

"Piikaa!"

After a few hours of wandering Ash got bored. Slumping down against a tree near a small field. he looked to Pikachu. "I think I should take a class on map reading. " He stared at the map again rotating it in circles and tilting his head to each side. "I might as well head back. It has to be way past midnight by now." Ash grumbled, wondering what he missed.

"Pikaaa Pi pi."

Ash turned, staring at the end of the field. At the end was a rock with a girl perched on it, running towards her a group of primeapes. "Pikachu!" Ash started running, realizing he was too late as he watched her curl up into a ball.

Snagging a pokeball from his belt he threw it, hard. "Bulbasaur! Vine whip! Catch her!" The first once missed, despite Bulbasaur being in range. Quickly, Bulbasaur adjusted lashing out and catching her as she fell. Ash dashed to the rock.

"Pikachu! Quick attack! Force them to back off." Flawlessly Pikachu reacted hitting the three in front.

Ash held Misty up, in shock that it was Misty, looking around at the primeapes. It seemed Pikachu had only distracted them, they quickly redirected their anger towards him instead. "Pikachu agility, confuse them. Bulbasaur razor leaf." They both were much stronger than even the evolved primeapes were. After years of hard work how could they not be? The scuffle didn't last more than a few seconds before the primeapes gave up, running in the other direction.

She was limp now still breathing but hardly. He had to put his ear to her chest just to tell that much. He couldn't imagine how hard she actually hit the tree. "Bulbasaur Return! Good work!" Placing his arm under her knees Ash picked picked her up, cradling her in his arms. "Pikachu, help me find a trail. We need to get her to a doctor fast."

Ash was throughly confused on why Misty didn't have her pokemon with her. Out in the middle of no where at night with nothing but a flashlight and some keys. That note he received didn't help at all. Did Misty write it? It hadn't looked like her handwriting at all, but it had been a while since he'd seen anything she had written. No, that didn't make sense. Her initials weren't 'T.R.'.

He kept himself at a light jog, but couldn't bring himself to go any faster than that for fear of tripping and injuring them both. In his mind he kept going over the note.

"Be at this location by midnight please. You'll be surprised.- T.R." Under that a map with a big red heart. It still burned in his pocket. He couldn't find any link between the two issues. Ash hadn't made it by midnight in the least bit of the sense. In fact, he had no idea how to read a map at all which burned him now more than ever. Had she received the same sort of note? Why was she out there with just a flashlight to begin with?

Why hadn't he thought of bringing a flashlight? He never was well prepared. At least he brought pokemon, he figured.

Which brought him back again to why she didn't have pokemon. Not even Togepi, and Misty brought her baby everywhere with her. Was there something here she was worried about? Were they kidnapped? None of it made any sense at all. It wasn't even the third day yet. Who could make enemies that fast?

Maybe they were old enemies?

Misty groaned, rolling herself closer to him. "Fuck." He had no idea what he was doing.

_Get her to the car. Get her to the hospital._ He could handle that much, couldn't he?

Ash hadn't even realized how far into the woods they were till he reached his car. It was a junker, powder blue with rust tint. But it ran, and that's what mattered. He was grateful of that fact more than ever as he loaded Misty into the passengers seat. Pikachu jumped into the car and Ash shut the door. "5 am!? Jesus." He jerked the car into reverse, hauling out of the parking lot at speeds he didn't know his car could accomplish.

It wasn't long before a motorcycle officer pulled behind Ash, lights blaring.

"I don't have time for this." He pulled over despite the complaint, urgently waving the officer over.

"What seems to be the problem here?!" The blue haired police woman stood with a large baton on hand.

"Officer Jenny?"

"I don't think I know who you are." She tipped her hat back, leaning forward to take a closer look at him.

As much as he would like to remember back to all the Jennies he'd met in the past, it really wasn't the time for it. "You need to take her to the hospital right now." He leaned back so she could see Misty in the other seat.

"Just follow me! I'll get you there!" Without blinking an eye Officer Jenny hopped onto her bike, speeding off towards hospital lights blaring Ash close in tow.

The hospital seemed more of a blur than the rest of the experience. Misty was snatched quickly from his car and rushed inside. After that a large amount of questioning from Officer Jenny. He sighed gratefully to find out she had just been knocked out. The cut on her head was small, only needing a few stitches. Apparently head wounds just bleed more than anywhere else making them seem much scarier. After that, they said, there would just be a large amount of painful bruising.

The lobby was quaint, with rows of blue cloth covered chairs swirling around in different directions. The walls were a lighter blue with a series of paintings of the ocean evenly placed around the room. Ash sat, facing a massive salt water tank. Tiny fish speckled the inside swimming in groups around various plastic plants and fake coral. Pikachu was the most impressed by it. Sitting close to the tank he watched a group swirl around till it made him dizzy.

A tall red hair woman dressed all in white walked up, asking his name."Ash Ketchum?" He nodded, and she explained what had happened (which he had heard at least three times already.) and informed him that Misty had finally been transfered to a room."We'd like to keep her here for a few more hours to make sure we haven't missed anything. But as far as we can tell she will just have a bad headache and some bruising." The nurse smiled brightly. "You can go and see her if you'd like."

"That would be fine." Ash stood up, brushing himself off.

"Chansey will show you." A happy pink Chansey walked up dressed as the nurse was. "Chansey, please show Mr. Ketchum to room 156."

"Chansey!" It bowed, then motioned Ash to follow.

Misty was still asleep when he got there. The nurses had already washed the blood from Misty's hair and changed her into one of the hospital gowns. The room was small, barely enough for two visitors. The room drowned in white and the smell of harsh cleaners. It didn't make him uncomfortable though. He found another blue cover chair. It seemed to stand out harshly against the white room. Placing it next to her bedside he fell into it. Listening through the quiet of the room he could hear the chattering and hospital music through the open door. Ash stretched lazily watching Pikachu jump onto the end of hospital bed. "Don't mess with her Pikachu. Let her rest." Pikachu understood, curling up at the end of the bed for the moment.

Ash stared at her for a moment, tracing the familiar features of her face with his eyes. She hadn't really changed all that much. She seemed almost softer than before, not so harsh or boyish. Not that it was ever that bad. He laughed to himself remembering the tomboy from before. Misty had always been smart though. Smart and beautiful.

Forgetting her pokemon had been pretty stupid. It stabbed at him. It was so out of character for her. After all that they went through, and all of those lectures he received from her. It all didn't feel right to him.

He leaned his head back against the edge of the chair. pulling his hat down over his eyes and crossing his arms. "One of these days, I'm gonna need a new hat." He could see the light from the window dancing through the worn areas of his hat.

"There will never be another like it. You sent in hundreds of post cards for that." Misty sat up, rubbing the back of her head gingerly. Speaking in something louder than a whisper she still winced at even that little of she was happy to find the cut was small, no longer than her thumb along the back of her skull. She didn't remember much, only up until she hit the tree. She could only assume by Ash being here that he had found her and brought her to the hospital. Misty couldn't believe how stupid she had been and how lucky she had was to survive. She set her eyes on Pikachu who was quietly snoozing by her feet.

"You have a point." He pulled his hat off, sticking his little finger through one of the holes that had formed over the years. Ash wanted to jump out and hug her, ask her why. But held himself back, figuring the pain she was in. "But it might be time for a retirement plan, I think." He watched her out of the corner of his eye. "You should probably rest more. You can't leave for a couple hours still."

She laid back again, taking in the smell of sterilization. Misty didn't mind hospitals, often playing with the idea of becoming a doctor herself. "Ash."

"Yeah?"

"Remember way back when, when had to bring Pikachu to a real doctor because there wasn't any Pokemon centers near by?" Pikachu's ears perked at the sound of its name, but he didn't seem to have any intentions of moving.

Ash chuckled. "We ended up helping with all the injured pokemon because there was no one else there to help."

"Then Team Rocket attempted to steal all the injured pokemon."

"How in the heck did they manage to make up those arms on the hospital beds so quickly?" Ash scratched his head. Thinking about it, there was no logical way unless they just kept large mechanical arms with them. "And on that subject, how did they manage most of the things they did?"

Misty shrugged lightly, and quickly realized how hurt she really was. She guessed the length of her back was probably one large bruise at this point. Misty could feel every muscle screaming at her. Tears fluttered in her eyes, so she turned her head away from him. "If I were them, I would have quit long ago. It would have been cheaper."

"Do you remember that poem they always spouted?" He covered his mouth, suppressing the laughter.

"I stopped listening after the fourth or fifth time. I don't think I could say it." Misty bit her thumb nail, thinking back to the elaborate costumes and ruined plots because of the poem. "Were they brother and sister or something?"

"No, remember? That one guy came from that rich family."

Misty nodded. "I remember now. I wonder what they're doing now?"

"Who knows?"

They both sat, imagining. The silence stretched on for awhile until they both forgot what the original conversation was about. It was heavy and hard to deal with and they both pushed for something to say.

Misty closed her eyes, laying back. It took her a second to lay just right so as little hurt as possible.

Ash watched her wishing he could think of something to talk to her about. All he could think about was their past together. Things that used it be. It was all a very long time ago. So many years had past, they were both practically different people. One year spent together was nothing. He remembered when he met her, as he was running away from all those spearows. All he would have had to done is shown up on time to Professor Oaks that day, and they would have never had met. "Well..""" He thought. "Probably never have met. I might have pissed off those spearows despite doing everything else correctly."" He laughed at himself.

Misty looked over at him, raising an eyebrow.

"Just remembering my inability to catch pokemon when we first met."

She smiled, closing her eyes again unaware of how tired she really was. How being thrown around and knocked out really drained the energy from someone. "You had an inability to do all sorts of things back then." It came out more like a whisper. The blood stains on his shirt hadn't passed by her either. The sweat, the dirt it all showed what he had done for her. She saw it.

"Go to sleep alright? Im gonna go grab some food." He stood up, motioning to Pikachu to stay. "Just be there if she needs you. Don't leave her." He whispered as he walked out. Pikachu understood. He moved up, curling himself between her arm and resting his head on her chest.

Misty just wanted him to stay. Wanted to apologize for being so useless, so dumb. Tears ran down her cheeks. She closed her eyes tightly till they hurt, till she couldn't cry. She couldn't figure out how twice in one week she'd managed to mess things up so badly.

How could she be so weak and needy? How could she ever face Ash the same way again?


	4. Chauvinism and Wheelchairs

*4*

Ash walked back to the hospital room a tray of food in one had and drinks in the other. He wasn't the most balanced person in the world, often needing to stop to get a better grip on the tray of food. Once or twice running into a wall here or a nurse there. Ash used his hip to open the door to Misty's room, which was a bit trickier than he first expected it to be but the door was cracked open so he didn't work at it for too long. What he wasn't expecting was Misty to be topless, facing away from him. He gaped, the bruise on her back was already a horrific deep purple stretching just below her shoulders to her bottom. Ash almost fell over at the site of it.

"Mi-Misty?" Ash stumbled turning his face to the floor. He couldn't seem to leave, or fully look away at this point. He instead just directed his eyes to his shoes and bit his lip.

Misty looked back lethargically at Ash. She was tired, and didn't much care how he saw her but managed to look slightly surprised by him being there anyway. She slipped her t-shirt on and her sweater. Her bra hurt too much to put on, but she felt weird with it just sitting on the counter. "Sorry." She peeped, not actually sorry at all. "Guess I should have locked the door."

"Or maybe shut it all the way. It wasn't even latched. You could have had creepy old hospital men peeking in on you." Ash walked over, placing the tray on the bed. He'd even gotten a sandwich for Pikachu, who figured out quickly which one was his. "I got you a sandwich. All they had was ham and cheese on wheat bread or turkey and cheese on white. I'll eat either."

Misty sat, imagining the peeping old men. She smirked thinking of them holding their oxygen tanks to their mouth as they tried to look as if they weren't doing anything at all. Bringing their wheel chairs as close to the door as possible with knocking into it. Looking back at Ash, who held the sandwiches up to her, she smiled. "Thank you." She took one eating it slowly, not able to pay enough attention to realize which one she really had. It never occurred to her how much she depended on her back till it hurt. Every small breath, every movement made her want to scream. Not that Ash needed to know that. He seemed happy that she was up and moving. She didn't hide it too well despite her obvious efforts to. Misty could see happy turn to upset concern.

Ash watched her concentrate on eating. Not really something you usually concentrate on doing. "If it hurts you could just stay here longer. I can email you Professors saying there was an accident. Im sure they could help this early."

"No." She moved to turn and face him, which turned out to be a bad idea. As she turned the sheets moved, causing her to slip off the bed onto her back. She landed with a loud thud.

Ash flinched as Misty fainted, not fast enough to save her from the fall. He sighed, and rolled his eyes. Pikachu was panicking, running in circles around her, pushing her with his small paws.

"Pikachu, calm down. She'll be fine. She's just..Sleeping, is all." He walked over, lifting her back into bed.

"Pikaachu!" Pikachu didn't really seem any calmer at all.

The nurse walked in as Ash was putting her back in bed. "What are you doing!!" She ran over, pulling the sheets back for him. The nurse looked like a mother Kangaskhan ready to charge him.

"Helping her stupid ass back in bed. I should have known better than to let her move around so much." He pushed her hair back out of her face. He couldn't believe he's actually thought she was doing alright. Ash had seen her bruising for himself. He complained when he got bruises on his knees. "She's stubborn. Might do this again before we leave."

"The doctor has given her strick orders not to get herself so worked up." The nurse pointed at Ash with a scowl. It was very obvious who she thought was at fault for this.

"Whhaat!~" Ash growled. "It's not MY fault she can't follow directions!"

The nurse came up behind Ash, pushing him out of the room. "Shu Shu now. She needs to rest. REST. Not be bothered by little boys."

"Little?!" Ash fumed, but the nurse was already gone. Ash grabbed a chair setting it next to the door. Leaning it back on two legs he pulled his hat down over his face, deciding to nap while he waited for Misty to get released. Or at least until he could go back into the room.

Ash didn't know how long it had been before someone had woke him up. He was told it was time to take Misty home now, that she'd be fine with more rest. He was still worried though, especially after she'd passed out so suddenly like that. He was happy to find out they prescribed some low dose pain pills for her. Ash stood as the nurse wheeled her out of the room. After spouting a list of things Misty shouldn't and couldn't do for a couple of week, the nurse stepped back, allowing Ash to take over. "I guess we should cancel our how-to-binge-drink-while-skydiving classes then. Right Mist?"

Misty snorted, tilting her head back so she could see him. "Damn, I was so looking forward to that too."

The nurse shook her head, heading off down the hall wordlessly.

"I know this is an odd request finding you just saved me and sat around the hospital all day with me. But, do you think we could go to the grocery store? I still don't have any food at home." Misty looked up at Ash, finding him handsome at this angle, which made her smile.

Ash looked down, smiling back. "Alright, but next time you're pushing me in the wheel chair. This thing is pretty bitchin'."

"Deal."

Checking out of the hospital was fast. Students had full coverage so all Misty had to do was sign some papers, get her prescription, and listen to another lecture by a nurse. Getting into the car was another ordeal altogether though. Ash was afraid to pick her up finding all but a couple hours ago she'd passed out on him. After a little bit of bickering about it Ash picked her up and moved her into the car. Misty cried (but quietly. She had her pride to think of), making the car ride to the grocery store more awkward than she really wanted it to be.

Shopping was strange. Ash wouldn't allow Misty to leave the car, demanding that she just make a list for him to pick up. She let him win this, finding she was more tired than she was expecting to be anyway. He came back with just the items she'd requested. "That was man like of you." Misty snickered.

"Man like? I got what you wanted!" Ash protested as he put the groceries in the trunk of his car. He had ran out to the car at least three times during the progression of things to verify and amend the list to begin with. Ash grumbled mentally about demanding women, slamming the door shut. "Well, I'm not going back in. Lets head back to the dorms. This is gonna be hard enough to explain as it is."

"I hope Togepi is okay." Misty whimpered. She had only meant to leave her baby egg alone for a few hours not a whole day.

"I'm sure Alex did something heroic for Togepi that will make you swoon over him for a couple of days. It sounds like something he would do." Ash couldn't help the undertone of spite that came with that sentence. Alex was starting to get under his skin as it was, now he know that Alex and Misty had something going, just made Ash all the more angry. Though Ash couldn't really pinpoint why it did at all.

Misty leaned against the window, thinking of Alex busting into her room to cradle the crying Togepi. An imaginary wind blowing through his blond locks and his billowing cape as he breaks in the door screaming " Have no fear Togepi! I shall save you!" Then all of her pokemon and Alex marching around twirling batons. It was about all she could do not to cry out with laughter. "I haven't known him that long! I doubt he'd break my door down to help my pokemon!" Misty protested.

Ash just stared at her for a moment, doubtfully.

He would. wouldn't he?" She giggled.

"I can help you to get to your classes if you want. I'll just talk with some of my teachers if our classes clash." Ash thought about it, the only classes he really needed to attend was biology. After that he could more than likely get notes from other classmates and just show up on important days. Plus, he figured, he'd only need to do it for a week or so. After that she should be fine.

"I'll be alright, I'm sure."

"I've got a wheelchair and groceries in the back of my trunk." Ash looked at her, raising an eyebrow. "And a broken you in my front seat."

"I told you not to rent it! Neither of us had the money for that, you know it."

"The doctor listed off a ton of stuff you cant do for at least two days. Walking was included in it. Plus I'm just fine on cash thank you."

"Doctors are just paranoid. I'll be fine."

Ash tapped the breaks lightly making the car jerk. The look on her face answered his question for him.

"Ash Ketchum! You don't have to be such a jerk!" There was more of a whine in her voice than real anger, but she hit him just for good measure.

"And you don't have to lie to me. You moved wrong earlier and passed out. I'm not stupid you know." Great, fighting on the way home. It wasn't really what he wanted to be discussing. Ash moved his neck from side to side, stretching it. She was so stubborn sometimes it made his teeth grind. She started ranting after that, and he ignored her from there. Ash was tired, he had only had that nap earlier and really did sleep well then either. A chair in a hallway wasn't the most comfortable thing ever. He just figured Misty needed something to keep her mind off of her injuries so he just let it keep going.

It wasn't till they got on campus again that Misty stopped talking. Ash didn't even know what she was going on about anymore. He pulled the wheel chair out of the trunk, fiddling with it to set it up.

"Need help with that?"

Ash looked up as Misty stood over him staring at the chair. "Damn it Mist. You aren't supposed to be walking around."

"You take too long." She was being defiant as usual. "Plus I need to check on Togepi."

"You're gonna hurt yourself." Ash scolded. He didn't like her doing this. It was one thing to be independent, another all together to forget your own health to continue that. None of the latches on the wheelchair wanted to go together quickly though and he wasn't gonna tackle her to get her to sit still. So, it seemed, he'd just have to deal with it for the time being.

"As long as I go slow, and your bring the groceries up for me, I'll be just fine."

Ash just stared at her, angry.

"I'll make you dinner OK?" She waved, walking away from him.

"Pikachu, jump on. Might as well push someone." Pikachu gladly did, happily sparking as Ash headed towards the dorm room. Ash grumbled the whole way up about overly stubborn women, ignoring the odd looks as he did.

Pushing the wheelchair off the elevator on the top floor of the door rooms, Ash didn't even bother looking up until he'd knocked into someone and fallen over. He cursed, looking at the scattered groceries. Amongst those groceries he saw a pair of legs and a skirt trying to pick herself up.

"I'm sorry. I was clumsy and wasn't paying attention." Ash pushed the wheelchair off of him.

"Ash! How wonderful to see you!" An overly girly voice chimed. "Oh! Did you fall out of your wheel chair?!" Ash recognized the voice almost at once. He found this weird, and humorous all at once though because if he had just been knocked over by a wheel chair he wouldn't sound so happy.

"Sorry for running you over Jessica." He pushed the stuff off of himself, walking over to help her up.

Jessica giggled in a rather ditsy sort of way. "Why are you apologizing silly?" She latched onto him as he helped her up. She leaned in close, Ash blushed deeply at the site of her low cut top, glancing up at the sky to avoid looking at it. "I just wanted to make sure you were going to sit next to me in Biology tomorrow. I'd be terribly upset if you didn't." She pouted a little, leaning closer to him. "Or maybe a dinner in my room?"

"O-of course." Ash choked out. "I-I wouldn't dream of anything else."

"Good!" She pecked him quickly on the cheek and slipped into the elevator as it was closing. "I'll see you then." With a wink she was gone.

Ash fell back down, dumbfounded. This college was a weird thing to him, in most places girls weren't even keen to talking to him. Let alone talking to him, hugging up on him, inviting him to dinners at their dorm rooms. All after only meeting him only once! Maybe I'm more charming than I realized. Ash smiled at himself feeling very debonair.

Straightening his back and strutting just a bit Ash loaded the groceries onto the wheelchair. They had managed to scatter themselves around, but nothing that would paticularly hurt them. Pikachu rolling some of the loose produce back over to him. Strolling the wheelchair down the hall way with his new found appreciation for himself Ash headed to Misty's room. He pushed the door open with his back, rolling the wheelchair in. "Mist, where do you want all this stuff-" Misty was already in bed, curled around Togepi. It looked like she was crying, but Ash guessed it was from back pain. He wasn't too surprised. "Togepi, ya hungry?" He pulled out some bread, waving it at Togepi.

"Pi pi!" Togepi squirmed out from Misty's arms, pouncing onto the loaf.

Ash laughed watching Togepi attack a loaf of bread that was almost the size he was. As Togepi and the other's ate Ash did his best to unload the groceries. Misty seemed to be resting well, which made Ash feel better. It wasn't long before someone came knocking on the door.

Ash huffed, pulling the door open. Alex stood on the other side smiling stupidly until he realized it was Ash and not Misty. "What do you want?!" Ash barked, but only as loud as he could without waking Misty up.

"What do I want?! What are you doing in Princess' room!?"

"We had a long night together." Ash smirked, not really caring what he knew he was implying. It was at least half truth, he hoped he could use that as an excuse later to keep Misty from beating him up. Though he wasn't too hopeful.

"Don't spread such lies about Princess!"

"Quit calling her Princess! At least Mermaid would be more fitting!"

"I don't know where you come up with such ridiculous nick names Ash Ketchum, but I demand to see Misty right now."

"Demand all you want. She's resting." Ash snubbed Alex promptly shutting the door in his face. "Bastard." Ash grumbled, upset that he was rooming with that kind of guy. Ash sat down on the floor leaning against Misty's bed frame going over in his mind the different reasons why he didn't like Alex. At the top of Ash's list, that nickname Alex kept calling Misty.

He's only known her two damn days. Ash growled mentally.

Pikachu and Togepi ran around, playing what looked like a game of tag consisting of two players. Usually things the did together where enough to distract Ash from most of his problems. Today, he fumed. Nothing seemed to go right.

Ash sighed, closing his eyes. He could at least rest. He knew Misty might not like him sleeping here, but he was beginning to realize each ache and pain starting to rise up and complain in his body. His eyes were heavy from lack of sleep, his legs hurt from running, his mind hurt from worry, his arms hurt from carrying Misty. Little by little each stood its ground with complaints until finally Ash gave in, dozing off where he sat.

Ash managed to wake up in the morning before Misty. He was able to find her class schedule and the doctor's note. Ash figured after the weekend she should be fine to go to classes again, if what the doctor said was true. The way she was going he'd have to tie her to the bed just to get her to rest though. He continue to growl to himself.

"Bulbasaur come out." Ash pulled out his pokeball tossing it up.

"Bulba!"

"Good. Stay here with Misty. Make sure she doesn't more around too much okay. Especially make sure she doesn't leave this room." Ash gathered up all of the pokemon, having Pikachu and Bulbasaur explain the situation while he went to gather all the work from their classes. Now he knew everything would be fine.

Grabbing Misty's room key Ash headed out only to find Alex still perched outside Misty's room. "You idiot. What do you want?"

"I want to talk to Misty."

"Too damn bad, she's sleeping." Ash pulled the door firmly shut. "If you wake her up I'll beat your face in!"

"I'd like to see you try."

They both held up fists and growled at each other, ignoring the people passing by, until the door behind Ash opened up again. There stood Misty, in her wrinkled sweater and jeans, rubbing her eyes. "I was trying to sleep!" Thumped them both on the head. "Now shut up! Quit being so insensitive." She look to Alex, lightening up a bit. "Come back later. I had an..." She paused for a second, thinking. "Interesting night last. So now I need to sleep."

"Of course Princess! Whatever you say!"

Ash made a face, almost sick over how cutesy Alex was with Misty. " I'll make you breakfast when I get back. Just go to sleep." Ash pulled his hat down forcefully, walking off.

"Yeah sure."

Ash could hear the door close, but didn't know if Alex really left or not. Ash didn't much like him.

Ash took most of the day to get around to all the teachers, explain the situation get the work and get back. Not only did every professor want to know exactly what happened (which Ash left out the part where she forgot her pokemon.) but wanted to give their long exaggerated opinions on why it shouldn't have happened, ways she could have prevented it and what she should do to make herself feel better. Ash told them she wouldn't be back in class till late into the week, just to cover things. He didn't want her to get worse instead of better then get in more trouble.

By the time he made it back he was starving and his head was throbbing. Ash almost forgot to go to Misty's room at all, passing it for his own bed. After looping around and spending a couple minutes fiddling with her dorm key he got back.

Misty was still asleep curled against the wall half under her blankets half on them. Togepi sat, perched on her hip giggling. Pikachu was hiding under the bed popping out every few seconds and twitching his ears. Togepi would explode with giggles and roll in a circle. Ash just shook his head placing a stack of paper work on Misty's counter.

Ash pulled off his cap, setting it down as he leaned against the counter. Closing his eyes Ash ran his hands through his hair rubbing his scalp. He didn't think he should be as stressed out as he really was. Pushing himself into one of the chairs Ash sighed dozing off again.


	5. Breakfast and Beaches

*5*

Turning over, Misty groaned. Somehow managing to sleep for such a long period of time again; it was more than she would have preferred to. Taking a deep breath, Misty forced herself out of bed and scanned the room as she exhaled. Togepi and Pikachu were asleep on the floor in front of her, and Ash was asleep at the counter across the room. Walking over, she dragged her blanket, setting it over his shoulders. She smile at him, kissing him on the cheek. Stubborn boy.

All the information she would need for the next week was laid out on the counter. Two large stacks. The first included everything thing she missed and everything she was going to miss. The second seemed to be for Ash. Determined to help her whether she wanted it or not, he wouldn't listen to anything she told him truth or lie. Off to the side was a brightly colored piece of paper. It definitely wasn't there earlier, and did not seem to go with either of the piles. Misty picked it up, looking it over.

_Welcome all new students and staff!! This is your Student Council President, Amy Royal speaking on behalf of the staff here at the university as well as the rest of your student council. This year is going to be a great year! We already have a great list of wonderful events to come for now and some still in the hope you're all going to attend._

_Wed. August 30. Club show. Walk around and see all the clubs you can join! Over 100 clubs have registered so far this semester. Should be lots of fun, free for all to attend._

_Mon. September 5. Parents/Relatives day! Bring your parents or relatives along to see your college! Sorry Freshmen! We've already sent out letters to your Parents/Relatives listed as your contacts for you, so don't try to get out of this one!_

_Fri. October 23. Kids Halloween festival! All clubs are required to have a stand and hand out candy for all the kiddies! Candy will be provided so no worries. This is a fun PG event for the kids in town to come to and trick-or-treat in a safe, happy environment. Please keep all booths and costumes G rated. We will have fun games and prizes for everyone! As well as a haunted house! (OoOOOooh scary!) Two dollars for the kiddies, five for adults. Free for anyone working in the booths._

_Sat. October 31. Halloween party! Taking place and the Student Union dance club. Party goes till two am. Dress up is required to enter. Admission is fifteen dollars at the door or ten dollars at the Student Union when purchased before the 30th of October._

_Thats all for now! If you have any questions please stop by the Student Council Center in the Student Union for details! Have a wonderful time!_

_Thanks!_

_University Staff and Your Student Council._

Misty was horrified clutching the bright orange flyer in front of her. _Parents or Relatives day?!_ Who thought of such a ridiculous thing anyway? Didn't children move away from college to get away from home? Now home was going to follow her here too. The paper twisted as Misty clenched it. Her sisters were going to ruin her and she didn't even have any new friends yet. They were so flirty and talkative. They'd tell everyone everything. There would be a new battle everyday. Misty felt panicked. She didn't want to be a former gym leader. She just wanted to be a college student.

_No, no._ She thought. Why would her sisters come all the way over here? It was at least a two day drive. The girls hated being away from the gym for too long. Misty grabbed a roll of bread, munching into it. Stress-eating had become a bad habit of hers as of lately. She couldn't find any legitimate reason why her sisters would show up at all. Except, maybe, boys. The girls did like anything that would give them more attention then they already had - and they had a lot of attention.

Misty sighed and shook her head. The letters had already been sent out who-knows-when. There wasn't much she could do about it now. No sense in worrying over it. Not that common sense ever stopped her.

Misty walked over to Ash, leaning against his back and folding her arms over his shoulders. He was always a hard sleeper, not even flinching as she pressed against him. Troublesome boy. His breathing was steady and calm. Ash had matured since their adventures together. Before he probably wouldn't have even known how to do such things. Ash didn't read manuals or study; he didn't know how to catch Pokemon until well into their trips together. She never thought he'd grow up like this. Misty pulled lightly on his greasy hair. He'd been too busy helping her he hadn't even showered. She found it more endearing than disgusting, smiling lightly as she twirled it around her finger.

I bet he'll be hungry when he wakes up. Misty had told him earlier that she would cook for him, but had slept too much to actually accomplish it. Since Ash was always hungry in the past she could assume at least that much had not changed. Looking through the fridge, Misty did not realize how empty it felt even after shopping. Maybe she should have gone in after all? _At least there's not a fridge full of Twinkies_. Misty decided. "Breakfast should be good. Eggs, bacon, pancakes." She nodded to herself pulling the items she needed out. Whisking this and frying that, she hummed to herself as she cooked wondering the whole time how Ash managed to sleep through these things. Not that that was anything new either. She usually preferred singing with her radio blaring, but really couldn't since she still had not managed to unpack everything. Misty found the whole experience more tiring than she would ever expect. Exhaust by the time she was done, Misty laid out everything in front of Ash.

"I should really eat more." She thought out loud, going over what she had ate over the last couple of days. Within the first week of college, she'd managed to do everything she'd never wanted to do, including making a complete fool out of herself and attempting suicide by leaving without Pokemon. She shook her head trying to forget about it. There was not anything she could do now to change it short of making a time machine.

Her room was quiet now, full of the smell of home cooking. A smile perked on her face at the serenity of it all. Maybe she would move out after college, have a house all to herself. This wasn't something she had with her sisters around. Constant battles and water ballets made the weeks busy. There just wasn't much room for social time, let alone personal time.

Misty walked around the counter, hitting Ash in the head.

"Huh... er... what-?" Ash gurgled rolling into an upright position. He stared zombie-like at the counter for a moment, making Misty wonder if she had woken him up from sleeping, or from the dead. Finally, he blinked, looking at her, then around the room. "I saw food and knew I wasn't in my dorm. I forgot where I was for a minute there."

Misty recaptured her blanket. "You still sleep hard. I would have thought you would have grown out of that by now." She motioned for him to eat, wrapping the blanket around her shoulders.

He grunted a thanks and piled on the food. "You should eat too. " He looked at her sideways while shoving food into his mouth. Misty was just happy he used a fork and knife.

"Did you see that?" She pointed at the flyer, still irritated that it existed.

He glanced out the corner of his eye at the brightly crumbled mess sitting on the floor, and tried to swallow. "I can't decide if I want to join a club or not. I have seven classes already and with the way you are going so far, I won't need anything to keep me busy."

"I wasn't looking at that part."

Ash glanced at the flyer, then back at Misty. "Your sisters then?"

She nodded, chewing her lip.

"Did you think of calling them and asking them not to come?" He pointed his fork at her, "I don't understand why you're trying to keep this gym stuff a secret. Almost everyone knows who you are, you know."

"Who said I was keeping anything a secret?" Misty almost exploded. She didn't think her gym was really that famous, and with four gym leaders running it she thought she could get away with pretending she wasn't one of them. There were hundreds of gyms everywhere. Even small towns tried to keep one official gym in the area otherwise it was not really a town to begin with.

"Why else would you care if they showed up?"

"Because they're show-off-y, know-it-all beauty queens."

"Think they'll steal your precious Alexy-poo?" Ash made kissy noises until a shoe hit him, knocking him out of the chair. "Auugh," He groaned, rubbing his back end. "Goddamn, that hurt."

"Serves you right. Quit being so jealous of Alex." Misty sneered. "He's sweet and good with Pokemon. Unlike you Ash Ketchum."

"I'm not jealous of that pompous asshole."

"Sounds like jealousy." Misty smiled scrunching her nose, and pointing at Ash teasingly.

Ash snorted, pulling himself back into his chair. "You'll just have to deal with it. I've got a surprise of my own coming for parents day as well."

"Oh?"

"Yeah." Ash laughed, turning towards his food again. "I still can't believe it myself. You'll just have to wait though. If I told you now you'd just think I was lying."

"Fair enough." Misty still wondered though. There wasn't much that surprised her anymore.

"Don't worry about your sisters though. I'm sure there isn't anything they could do around here anyway." Ash started eating again, using his fork as a shovel for his mouth. Misty was happy she had decided to cook so much of everything, or there wouldn't be anything left for her. _His manners haven't changed either._

"I'm gonna shower I think." Misty walked over to her closet, digging through some bags and pulling out a towel. "Wanna walk with me later? I promised Horsea I'd take him to the ocean to play."

"You aren't supposed to be walking."

"Fine you can drag that chair with you, but I'm not gonna ride in it. I can walk just fine." She slammed the door to the bathroom and threw on the shower before he could retort.

The shower felt great, working out knots as the hot water rolled down her body. Facing the wall she braced herself against, she pressed her forehead against the tile. Misty found herself staring down at her breasts, watching the water trail down in different directions. She was happy with her body. Besides the large bruise and massive amounts of pain, she didn't have anything to complain about. She followed the curve of her breast down to the round of her hips, to her toes and back up. Everything seemed perfect, well feed, well rounded. Her stomach was flat but not muscular, all of her weight seemed to settle at her hips and ass.

Her body wasn't something she sat in the shower and dwelled about, but today she felt like keeping her mind off of other things. No sisters, school, or Alex. Especially no Ash. Just the water and herself. That was good enough.

Ash kept creeping up to the corners of her mind though. The more she thought of herself the more he seemed to be there, off in the distance. Finally she gave up even thinking of herself. Clearing her mind and counting seemed to go over best.

The bathroom door squeaked open a crack, and Ash attempted to yell over her shower.

"What?" Misty peeped out of the shower door.

"I said that I'm heading back to my dorm. Come get me when you're ready to leave. Also, eat something. It's good for you, all right?"

"You didn't eat everything, did you?"

"I wanted to. It was wonderful, thanks." He shut the door after that.

After allowing the water to run 'til she was pink and wrinkly, Misty stepped out and dried herself off. Heat radiated off her body even after the water was off. She felt great, clean and flexible again. She stretched, rolling her shoulders in circles slowly. The doctor wanted a few different exercises, but Misty wasn't feeling up to it. Stretching, and a peaceful walk on the beach with her Pokemon sounded wonderful to her.

Misty flipped her hair down and rolled it up in a towel. Leaving the bathroom, she found that Pikachu was still in the room. "Ash left you here to make sure I didn't forget him, didn't he?"

Pikachu sparked a yes. "Pi-pika."

Misty hadn't originally planned on ditching Ash, but she played with the idea now. Why would she need a security guard? At least he left her a cute guard, he could have just stayed himself. Realizing she was still naked, Misty blushed at the idea of Ash still being there. She wondered what he would do. He was too innocent to know anything about women other than what he found in a smut magazine, or so she thought. Then she was imagining him reading a smut magazine, carefully flipping the pages with a smug little smile while he-.

She stopped, rubbing her face with her hands. "Oh god, what am I thinking?!" She cried. Quickly she dove into her closet, rifling through it.

"Pants? Skirt? Shorts?" Clothes flung around her as she scoured for something to wear. Nothing too casual or too sexy, and she needed something she could move in, that wouldn't hurt her back. Something she didn't need a bra for. Her back was still too sensitive for that. "I don't have enough clothes!" She whined. In the end she settled for a dark pair of jeans she had cut into a long pair of shorts that stopped about mid -thigh, and a soft yellow t-shirt with a small v-cut and a large dark blue flower printed on the front. "You can see my nipples through this." She said as she was pinching one. She became irritated as she put her bra on. It was warm and they were sticking out. Misty couldn't bring herself to run around in front of Ash looking like a tramp.

Packing a few things into a small bag, Misty clipped her Pokeballs onto her belt. "That will do, I think." Misty put her shoes on, looking at Togepi and Pikachu. "Togepi, Pikachu, ready to go?" Misty scooped them up and twirled, making them both giggle.

Pikachu found a perch on Misty's shoulder as she headed down the corridor towards Ash's dorm. She flinched as Pikachu's tail happily thumped against her back. It didn't hurt but it became almost involuntary to flinch regardless.

Tapping on the door she stood outside starring at the white board attached to their dorm door. Misty shook her head at the drawings of small chibi people with overly large penises all over it. Though she had no idea what the board was actually used for to begin with, she could almost bet it wasn't for that. She also guessed pretty quickly which one had drawn them there as well.

There was some argument from inside. Quickly the door flashed open and was pulled shut. Ash stood outside the door with a big stupid grin on his face. Misty could only count the things Ash could have done to make sure Alex didn't tag along. None of which she actually really wanted to know about. So instead she just stared at him in that what-the-fuck sort of fashion. He just continued to grin and gesture down the hall towards the stairs. "Shall we?"

"Is there a reason you're deceiving Alex?" She made herself sound angry but followed him down the hall regardless, making no move to invite Alex despite it.

" 'Cause he's a douche. " Ash acted as if this was something she should already know about.

"I think he's kinda cute."

Ash snorted. "If he grew his hair out no one would know if he was actually a guy or not."

"Girls are attracted to fem-pretty boys too. He's more gentlemanly than you any day." She said this despite Ash holding the door to the elevator open for her. Ash scooted in behind her, so she missed any facial responses.

They bickered off and on all the way to the beach, getting lost a few times when Misty found herself starring off at some flowers and following Ash's terrible directions instead. They made it in the end, but Misty was tired despite trying to keep up.

"I knew we should have brought your wheelchair along." Ash complained.

"Get over it. You would have just pushed Pikachu around in it anyway." Misty smiled as Pikachu sparked happily. He was still diligently perched on her shoulder and it wasn't often that Pikachu left Ash's side. Misty got the feeling Pikachu was looking after her, and maybe Ash had a little something to do with that.

Just like last time she was here there was battles scattered around the beach, quite a few less than previously though. Arenas were set up using bright orange cones as markers. They were a little smaller than regulation, but it didn't seem like anyone was quoting regulations. The ocean was still warm enough that there were swimmers, people fishing, and a few water battles as well. Misty hadn't even thought of bringing a bathing suite.

"How's this?" Ash had found a spot further down the beach away from most of the crowd and battles. It was close enough to the water that they could watch the pokemon and far enough away not to get wet.

"Looks great Ash! Maybe your not useless after all." Misty winked at him and Ash fumed. Pulling the blanket out of the bag she brought along, she had Ash help her lay it out. "Horsea, Staryu, Psyduck! Time to play!"

"Bulbasaur, Charizard, Squirtle! You too!"

"Damn it Psyduck! You still can't swim!" Misty threw a rock at Psyduck who continued to flail about in the knee deep water. "Now you're giving me a headache!"

"Squirtle help out Psyduck please." Ash chuckled, pulling his hair from his eyes and repositioning his hat.

Misty rolled onto her stomach. Being tired annoyed her, but she yawned despite herself and pushed the sand around her her fingers. She drew Togepi and Horsea with little hearts dancing around them. She scowled when Ash laughed at her. "What's so funny?"

" I can't believe you haven't taught Psyduck to swim yet."

Misty flicked sand at Ash. "You teach him Mister Superior." She was only irritated for a moment though, soon comforted by the unusual warmth of the sun. It was a good day to be outside, not to hot or cold. Just a couple loosely drifting clouds. Misty didn't want to be irritated just wanted to enjoy herself.

"That's an odd looking cloud." Ash pointed, squinting.

Misty turned ( just a little ) to see what was going on. Way off in the distance was a strange cloud that almost looked like a Meowth. Misty laughed, "Oh no Ash! It's Team Rocket!"

Ash chuckled. "That's the last thing we need."

Meanwhile, Somewhere off in the distance...

"Prepare for trouble..."

"...And make it double! "

"To protect the world from devastation! "

"To unite all peoples within our nation! "

"To denounce the evils of truth and love! "

"To extend our reach to the stars above! "

"Jessie!"

"James!"

"Team Rocket, blasting off at the speed of light! "

"Surrender now or prepare to fight! "

Meowth stepped forward, scratching them both in the face."Would you two knock it off!"

"But Meowth, we're bored!" James teared up, rubbing his face where it was red.

"I have to practice for my grand entrance!" Jessie retorted, angry. "And besides it's cold up here, we have to do something while we wait."

"There ain't gonna be no grand entrance." Meowth pulled binoculars out of a bag looking towards the campus. "We ain't singin' up 'ere. We're schemin'!"

"I thought we were just here to visit our cousin for my sick Aunty." James eyes became bubbly and happy. "She's the only one who truly understood me."

"Just because we're 'ere on a pleasure trip doesn't mean we can't do business too."

"Meowth, do you have a plan?" Jessie sung excitedly. It had been a long time since they had messed up, so the plans were always exciting now.

"Don't I always?" Meowth grinned.


	6. A little blue, you and pokemon!

Author's Notes!

Ha ha! Has it been over a year already?

Am I the worst author ever?

All questions we should avoid at all costs!

But, due to a large number of new subscribers, and a few old subscribers kicken' my butt, I'm looking at starting up again!

I have a new shiny shiny laptop, and some new working internet!

So, here is the newest chapter that hopefully won't disappoint everyone who has been waiting around for a very long time!

Love ya!

-Romance

*6*

"I'm heading over to Brock's tomorrow. You want to come with?" Ash helped unload the picnic items back into Misty's room. The time spent had been fun but the walk back was gruesome. Even though Misty had led the way this time to keep them from getting lost, she had been slow from being tired out again. Ash had continued complaining the whole way back about how they should have brought the wheelchair along, that she should be riding Charizard, and that she should not have left her room. Fifteen minutes of listening to him slowly raised a desired to swiftly kick Ash in the shin, but she had neither the physical stamina or the mental prowess to deal with him.

"I should probably do some of that homework." She nodded over to the pile still sitting on the counter. Truthfully she was exhausted, but didn't want to tell Ash. She hadn't thought of the fact that she would be chasing Togepi around the beach and now all she could think about was lying down to sleep again. "I need to unpack too. All my stuff is still in boxes in the closet." Misty knew they were pretty lame excuses, but they were truthful ones at least.

"Bah," Ash waved his hand in front of his face, "you have a whole year to unpack and a week for that homework. You'll be fine. Plus, at Brock's place, I don't have to worry about you trying to do acrobatics in your condition."

Misty growled, her politeness was worn and she was ready to snap. "I can take care of myself you know." She said it slowly, trying to keep the anger and irritation from coming through.

"You've proved that so far." He snipped at her, and she felt herself snap. The grinding noise in her jaw probably gave that away.

"Ash Ketchum! I do not need your help! I didn't then and I don't now! I'm a perfectly capable adult." Misty could feel her blood boiling already.

"And that's why you run around without Pokemon and put yourself in hospitals? Looks like you don't need anyone's help." Ash seemed more bored than annoyed or angry, like an adult talking to a small child about silly things the child wouldn't understand. She felt like a floundering Magikarp.

Misty clenched her fist gritting her teeth. She didn't need anyone talking to her like that. She hardly allowed her older sisters to speak to her in that tone anymore. "You can just leave! I don't have to listen to you."

"I'll come by with Brock tomorrow. Maybe Brock can talk some sense into that stubborn little head of yours." Ash waved as he walked out, barking for Pikachu to follow.

Pikachu's ears flopped down. "Piiika." He looked sadly at Misty before sulking off after Ash. Misty could tell Pikachu obviously didn't like them fighting. She was happy Togepi didn't know the difference, happily giggling at everything. Misty collapsed as the door shut, all the tension leaving the room. Now she just felt alone, and sad. Like she had just kicked out her only friend in the world.

Misty looked at Togepi and exhaled dramatically, expelling any negativity she could force from her lungs. Even with that effort, though, there was still a heaviness for her to work around. "I don't know why I'm so upset. I should have known better than to run around with someone just because I knew them for a bit." Opening her closet door she stared at all the boxes she still needed to unpack. "I don't feel like doing anything, but there's so much to do. Maybe I should take another nap..." She stared at her bed, torn emotionally, tired of being tired.

"PipipiPIII" Togepi rolled in small circles on its butt, chirping happily. Nothing seemed to ever bring Togepi down, and that helped bring Misty up a bit. But no matter how happy Togepi was Misty was still lonely.

"Once I actually make it to some classes Togepi, I'm sure I'll make lots of friends. Maybe then I can forget all about that stupid Ash Ketchum." Togepi curled and yawned, tucking itself in to sleep. "Tomorrow, I'm not even going to be here when he comes around with Brock. I'll walk around and get some exercise, or maybe I'll put on a cute skirt and go into town." Misty was feeling a little better all ready. She didn't need Ash, she could handle things herself.

"It hasn't even been a week yet, what else can go wrong?" She chirped, self-motivated by the idea of going out and moving around. Secretly she was even gleeful at the idea of dressing up for no particular reason.

Ash fumbled down the hall, too busy looking at skirts to manage to walk straight. Nothing that just happened really fazed him too much, not that it needed to faze him. Ash just figured Misty was tired and cranky. Women got like that often, or the few he had dealt with so far acted just that same way. Ash thought back to the last girlfriend he had, and how she often was the same way. One moment she was fine and the next she was bitching at Ash over the color of his socks. Ash understood that that was just how women got sometimes, all they needed was space and lots of it. Misty would get over it, he thought flashing a smile at an attractive girl as he passed by her. She smiled and waved and Ash did his best to remember her face for later. As of right now, he felt more like going to bed and getting some food than chasing some cat around.

"Jump up, Pikachu." Ash realized Pikachu was still trailing behind him, and stopped so his friend could climb to his usual perch. But Pikachu didn't, instead continuously glancing down the hall, tail down and ears flat. "She's fine Pikachu, come on." He waved at Pikachu, a little irritated his friend was worried about something so silly. "She just needs to sleep. If we're there we'll just bother her."

"Pipika." Pikachu jumped up still seeming a bit uneasy to Ash.

"Look, we'll check on her in the morning alright?" Ash new all Pikachu needed was some reassurance that Misty was going to be alright. Pikachu didn't know women like Ash did. Just like Ash thought, Pikachu perked right up. "Promise. Now, lets go eat! I feel like I haven't had anything to eat in ages."

Ash wasn't thinking of eating when he opened the door to his dorm room. A girl screamed, and Ash slammed the door shut, staring wide-eyed at Pikachu. "Was she naked?" Ash was frantically trying to think of what he just saw. Curvy, blue hair, sweet ass, he was able only a glance before he'd quickly slammed the door. He cursed himself for not getting a better look. Pikachu was hiding, his ears covering his eyes, tucked back behind Ash's neck. Ash tapped his ring finger against the door rhythmically, nervous about opening it again. All he could really think about was that douche castle had girls in their room and was already too stupid to pull the curtains closed.

"Wasn't a bad peek though." Ash chuckled, then rapped loudly on the door. "Pull that curtain closed. I'm coming in." In the dorm rooms, hidden in the walls, were heavy wall-like curtains that ran all the way round the bed and desk to allow some privacy. They were too thick to see through and mostly sound resistant, if everything was kept to a reasonable level. Ash didn't understand why Alex wouldn't have it up in the first place. It was placed in there for a reason, and even if Ash had stated before hand that he was going to be gone for most of the day, most of the day had already gone and past.

Ash tapped his finger a few more times before barging back in. Now, both curtains were closed and Ash laughed again. "I get the hint!" He yelled, and quickly grabbed a sandwich from the fridge before ducking into his own curtain. Though slightly curious on who that cute ass belonged to, Ash didn't care enough about Alex to bother with it. He pressed the curtain all the way to the wall until the magnets clicked. Ripping his sandwich in half, he handed part to Pikachu and laid down.

"Homework?" Ash offered, raising an eyebrow at Pikachu. Pikachu glanced up for a moment, then went back to his meal. "Man, I'm feeling like a Slowpoke today. I'm not really interested in anything." Pikachu nodded falling over, his stomach full of happy deliciousness. Ash poked at the pinkness of Pikachu's electrical pouches, smiling as the tip of his finger tingled. Pikachu exhaled and fell asleep. Ash smiled at his long time friend, curled up in a ball resting peaceful. "At least there's someone here I understand."

Pulling his work out of his bag Ash sat down at his desk, not fully moved at doing his homework. He thumb through the pages lazily, trying to decide what he could do without pulling out a book or thinking too heavily on the subject. Distracted, he could hear movements from outside his curtain and the muffled conversation of Alex and his guest. Her voice, from what he could hear, was flutey and familiar. Maybe a girl he knew from one of his classes? Or maybe it was the muffled sounds and it wasn't anyone he knew at all. Ash really wished he could make out what they were saying. After just a sort period of time there was more scuffling, then the opening and closing of the door to the hall. Ash peeked outside his curtains to see Alex, half dressed, standing in front of the closed door alone. To Ash Alex seemed shell shocked, his hand tugging at his blond hair starring quietly at the door, like he didn't understand what had just happened. Ash mentally scoffed, annoyed that Alex existed.

"Who was that?" Ash prodded after a few moments, his head still poking out from behind the curtain. It seemed not to register, Alex still clasping at his hair facing the door.

Alex jumped, as if he just suddenly realized that Ash had said anything at all. "What did you see?" Alex, angry, stomped up to Ash. "None of that was any of your concern! It's not what you think and you should mind your own god damn business!"

"Whoa, calm down. All I saw was your more than handsome physic." Ash winked, trying to be funny to bring Alex down. Ash found Alex' over reaction hilarious, but doing he best to act serious. It wasn't working, Alex just seemed more irritated by Ash than ever and Ash had to bit his lip to keep from laughing.

"Fuck off and mind your own god damn business." Alex went back behind his curtain, and Ash felt like if face would catch on fire any moment by Alex' angry mind powers.

"Thank god he doesn't have laser eyes or I'd have a hole in my face right now." Ash grabbed his face with his hands, exaggerating pain and melting. He laughed, pulling the heavy curtain closed again, but Pikachu was already snoring soundly.

Ash scribbled for a while pretending, at least, to do some homework before finally giving up and stripping for bed. Tossing on a pair of pajama pants (Pokemon print complete with wear and tear.), he crashed leaving the curtain closed and his desk light on.


	7. Follow the leader

***7***

Hot showers and baths seemed to be the only thing Misty had to look forward to anymore. She mentally praised which ever merciful person installed electrical heating system instead of water tanks, allowing her as many hours as her tense body may need. Or at least that's how she felt as she sat at the bottom of the tub. Plugging the drain with her foot Misty melted into the ceramic vessel. The steam in the room was so thick it could take the paint off the walls, and Misty welcomed it with a deep relaxed breath.

Misty had, in fact, woken up as early as she had threatened but almost regretted it now. Burnt-out, and unsure of what her plan was for the day she re-adjusted the towel folded behind her head. It was Friday already and the college didn't hold classes Friday, Saturday or Sunday, so the weekend was free to do as she pleased. Misty did want to visit Brock, but refused to out of spite. The local gym was an option, the library or the park. Non of which sounded particularly exciting or productive, but nothing this week was productive so no concern there.

Now she just felt frustrated. Annoyed at the pain, her ignorance, and her own indecisiveness. She was better than this, strong, confident, quick to a decision. Or so she continued to tell herself, but such a drama filled week was making her doubt herself. This semester was going to kick her ass, this much was apparent already.

After about an hour Misty finally hoisted her pruney self out from the tub and changed. Deciding to wear her strapless ivory dress, sweetheart cut with aqua lace draped at the bottom and a matching lace sash that tied into a bow around her waist as a confidence booster any challenge today could be conquered. She ended up adding a light ivory sweater with it not wanting unneeded attention brought to the bruise on her back. Thinking about it brought a light blush of shame to her cheeks, Misty could only imagine how upset she would be if someone pointed it out.

The sweater would be a good addition considering the fall chill outside. The weather was still deciding what to do with its self this time of year. Some days would be blistering hot making the chill of the beach inviting, some days bright and sunny with a nip to the air making you want to go for a walk along the trails. Misty had spent the fall up north with an Aunt of hers who had fallen ill and needed someone to help with her little one. It wasn't close to here but the climate was similar. She had enjoyed the few months that she was up there, often loading the baby up in the stroller and walking along the bike path near to her Aunt's house.

Throwing on a strappy pair of sandals Misty grabbed up Togepi and headed out the door. A plan. She was missing a plan. Misty could go wandering uselessly around campus. The more she thought about it, the more useless it seemed. Her homework wasn't done, her dorm room was a disaster, her back hurt and all she wanted to do was get away. Any short notice decision she had made recently had ended with terrible consequences and now, staring at her door with it's simulated wood detailing Misty was almost afraid to leave. That fear made her feel foolish. Why hadn't she just stayed with her sisters at the gym? Many people would die to be a gym leader, and Misty had worked extraordinarily hard to be a respectable gym leader. Now she was at a educational institution that was trying to kill her.

And there was Ash Ketchum. She groaned. Why, why, why! Of all the colleges in all the world she choose his! And with such a huge campus, with so many things to do how did she even find him? It was like the universe plotted against her to forever have to live with that ignorant boy if she ever wanted to leave the gym. Her stomach was in knots.

Her back hurt. All her frustration and moving around was bringing tears to her eyes. "Togepi, I don't know what to do! This would be so much easier if I wasn't injured." She wiped the streaks from her cheeks, mostly mad at herself now for being so silly. Misty was supposed to be an adult, but was feeling more like an infant. She smiled and closed her eyes as Togepi sung her a sweet little song.

Suddenly her back felt better. Peeking open one eye she looked at Togepi, who chirped happily from the perch in Misty's bag."PiiPII."

"No," She shook her head, "I'm sure I just picked up a second wind." Sometimes she imagined Togepi had super powers, and could make everything all better. "Maybe we'll find you a super hero cape today Togepi, what do you think?"

"Pii!" Togepi cooed back. For the moment, everything was fine again. Misty's pokemon were her children. She fed them, bathed them, loved them and in return her pokemon made her life livable. They made bad days wonderful again. Some days she just needed a reminder of that.

"To the market then. Good choice Togepi." Misty headed towards the school's market, which was actually more like a small mall. Located just down the road from her dorm the same building also offered access to the school's large completely glass hothouse, the main desk for all housing, one of the many pokemon centers on campus grounds, a few restaurants and the pokemon day care. Being so far off from the nearest town the school pulled in more money with the convenience of the provided stores. Though more expensive, Misty knew she wasn't going to have enough energy to actually head into town.

With a second wind and a perk to her step, the day was starting to look up.

Ash woke up half in his bed and half out of it, his blankets tangling up around his feet at the top of the piece of furniture. Pikachu had moved during the night and taken over the pillows. Ash's little electric mouse perched there, king among pokemon. Ash stared at the low hanging ceiling where the joints of the curtains met the rails that held them in place. It was daylight, he could gather that much but unsure of what time it was. He hadn't placed new blinds on his window yet, and the old ones were jammed permanently open. With the sleep still in his eyes Ash couldn't tell the placement of the sun. Just that there was lots of it, and it was really bright.

Ash groaned his muscles tense from the obscure position he had managed to place himself in at some point during the night and rotated his torso. The floor was cold against his forehead, the tracks where the vinyl wood pieces came together pressed into his skin leaving angry red impressions. Waking up with a headache seemed the best way to start the day, he sarcastically concluded. But despite his attempt at humor his body wasn't listening, he's temples pounding in defiance.

He wanted to sleep again, but the room was blinding and his head was throbbing. Ash's body demanded more sleep but his mind was invigorated. Wide awake now his eyes strained to focus on the fake wood grain of the floor. Letting his hips roll, he literally fell to the floor. The thud woke Pikachu who ambled to the edge of the bed.

"PikAa..?"

"The floor was making fun of me so I tackled it." Ash answered with a sarcastic joust.

Pikachu just rolled his eyes and laid back down, tucking his feet under the yellow fluff of his body and starring over the edge of the bed with a glaze of boredom.

Ash got the hint and hoisted himself to his feet. Somehow during the night he had managed to strip his socks and shirt off. One sock made it over to the lamp on his desk reminding him of the missing lamp shade, the other off to one corner. He couldn't visually locate his shirt from where he stood, had he worn a shirt to bed? Possibly, but he could not clearly remember what it had looked like. So maybe he could see it? Ash pushed his palms against his eyes trying to rid himself of the mesh of unneeded content. Kicking at a pile of cloths at the foot of his bed Ash fished for something that looked like it may be clean. Or, at least cleaner than the rest of the cloths.

Pikachu went into Ash's closet, bringing back a clean shirt. Then pointed to the closet. "PiiPipi."

"I suppose, but it's just easier to kick at the cloths and wish for them to get clean."

Ash may have been awake but he still felt brain dead and the pressure in his brain wasn't really turning the tides. There was a feeling like he was mentally starring at a blank sheet of paper and trying to read words that weren't there. "I need an aspirin." He growled to himself, pulling the plain black t-shirt that Pikachu had fetched over his head. Grabbing a pair of beige shorts from the dirty pile, he synched them with a belt he found under his bed and slipped on a pair of sandals. Sand was still incrusted between the straps from the picnic with Misty.

"Fuck! Pikachu! Misty!" Ash palmed his forehead and scoured for a clock. Ten am. Misty would have been long gone by now if she had decided to be stubborn. Ash doubted this Misty was any different from the Misty he knew years ago.

"PipiKa."

"Know it all." Ash huffed, pulling the curtain from the wall and stepping out from his holding cell. Alex was spread out of the couch reading a book, already dressed and ready to go for the day. Black rimmed reading glasses made him look more of a jack ass than normal.

Alex glanced up over his hipster optical instruments."Morning." It was halfhearted, more of a grunt than an actual greeting.

"Yeah."Ash took his hat from the coat hook. "Who was that girl last night? If you're going to have naked girls prancing around the dorm room at least bring one for me." Ash's attempt at small talk seemed pathetic, but he had to live with this guy for the rest of the year. Unless he was lucky enough that Alex dropped out, Ash wouldn't hold his breath though. He'd never be so fortunate.

"Fuck off and die Ketchum." Alex's quick anger was surprising. Boredom, annoyance either Ash could understand but the anger was unexpected.

"Damn, I was just kidding. Back down."

Grabbing his wallet and keys from the counter Ash shuffled out the door slamming it behind him. He could hear the shelf under the television fall down again taking the movies neatly stacked on top it along for the ride. In life, Ash knew, it was the little things that really mattered.

"Misty! Are you up?" It had only taken a moment to get to Misty's room. Pounding at the door and hollering didn't seem to have any effect, which just meant either she was gone or ignoring Ash. Pikachu sat against the wall, palms against his face. "I don't know what your issue is."

"Pikachuu.."

"Fine, I concede. Any other bright idea's mister?"

Pikachu just shook his head moving towards the elevator. Ash dragged his feet behind him following the little electrical mouse where every he may lead him.

It was crisp outside, but bright and sunny. Ash shrugged his shoulders and stuffed his hands into his pockets. "Where the hell are we going Pikachu?" Patients wasn't a virtue Ash was actively involved in.

The leaves on the birch woods were changing. The landscape didn't go into autumn colors here like back home. The leaves went mostly from lush green to a gold brown color and fell. All that would be left for contrast against the white-gray trunks of the birch trees would be the deep green from the pine needles in the evergreens. Even those would seem dull compared to the stark white of the snow after the first fall. Any bug type pokemon would either evolve or head further south before the snow fell as well as many of the birds. Some ice types would migrate down from further north, the snow fall expanding their domain.

"If you had told me we were going out for a walk I would have put on a jacket."

Ash followed Pikachu another hundred yards or so till they reached a large opening next to the P.S.O. Hall attached to the main Satoshi Tajiri University campus. Professor Samuel Oak hall specialized in the learning and understanding of Pokemon evolution and natural development. After Ash and a few others had started documenting existing pokemon using the pokedex's Professor Oak had created, the world starting understand the need to learn and understand the growth and evolution of pokemon in and out of their natural habitats and how that relates to the world around them. So many studies sprouted from Professor Oak's experiment that someone decided it was only appropriate to name the hall of the University after him. Ash thought they should have named the whole damn college after Professor Oak, not Satoshi Tajiri who-ever-the-hell that was. He remembered the guy had something to do with something drastically important, but Ash couldn't quite remember what.

The PSO was the closest to the beach and functioned as a second main entrance for STU. Today handcrafted colorfully decorated wooden stand lined those walkways. Cemented areas littered with the stalls, balloons and banners leaving no region bare or boring. Everything else was clutter with students and pokemon.

Pikachu found his position on Ash's shoulder as Ash approached one of the vivid event staff. "What's this all about?"

"The Student Activities and Club fair has joined with the Jobs for College Students event. They opted at the last minute to join the two and then extend the event for three days rather than just one." Ash took the flier the man offered him. "Each stall has a flier that stats its purpose, what they're looking for, website information, and office location. Business' will have just applications as well."

Ash thank the man, then went with traffic flow until he found an empty bench to occupy. Folding open the flier, he skimmed the hundreds of booths that filled the park. He was blown away by the sheer number of clubs the college had to offer. The activities list seemed to lean more towards the average bout that a student would find at any given University. The business side of things seemed much smaller in comparison to the sheer amount of clubs. Ash understood now why they would want to join the two events, other wise the job fair may have been too small and have been over looked. Though, if they had expanded University jobs from one booth to many having one booth for each available job category it may have held it's own. A sad twelve business booths attempted to bring attention to their selves.

Ash didn't need to worry about working while he was here. His mother wouldn't have anything to do with it. After receiving a full scholarship including classes, board and books, from a business sponsorship that had helped to fund Professor Oak's initial project Ash's Mother surprised him with a savings account filled to the brim. Apparently his mother had been saving it since she found out she was pregnant with Ash for just this.

"Ash," she said to him "I never told you because I thought we'd have to pay for all of your schooling on our own. I'm so proud of you Ash Ketchum. Try not to spend it all on beer."

"Look at all them pokemons just waiten' to be snatched up." Meowth rubbed his paws together, peering through the bush that aided their cover. Over the shrub was one of the many bizarre the University offered through out the year. Hoards of people with pokeballs attached to their hips flowed from one booth to the next gorging themselves on tasty sweets that were sold through out the fair.

"Yeah, yeah.. Uh huh. No. I understand completely. No sure, no. That shouldn't be an issue. We'd be happy to forward our experience to a younger generation. Of course sir..."

Meowth hated being held up because Jessie had to clear plans and swindles with the boss before moving on. He could be scamming hundreds out of precious pokemon, but instead the group sat in the bushes like common criminals awaiting a clear thumbs up. Today, it wasn't sounding like things had really gone their way.

"He's on his way already? Of course. Just the one today? No, just the team leader will be fine. Thank you sir, goodbye." Jessie folded her phone down. "Sorry Meowth, we've been ordered to stand down."

"What?"

"Orders from the boss, but I promise you won't mind. We've gone from thieves to teachers it seems." Jessie grabbed her pony tail, rolled it into a bun and pinned it in place. Pulling on a pair of wire rimmed glasses she finished her attire.

James followed suite, not needing an explanation for a chance to play. They both were in suites to allow for easy blending in the campus crowds. The Professor look was even easier, James just slicked back his hair then frazzled it slightly in the front giving him a "I just spent hours grading crappy test" looks. Later, when he had time, James would add some gray streaks in for effect. Wrinkling his suite slightly, and leaving his shirt partially tucked it just completed his crazy Professor look. James found it usually screamed "Don't talk to that guy, he might lecture you on a subject you don't yet understand."

"Oh yeas? Who's our new student?" Meowth sat down, knowing that a talking meowth would probably not be apart of this scam. At least not this early on for sure.

"Patients Meowth. The Boss sent him our way before I even finished the phone call, and he wasn't too far away." Jessie looked down at her wrists, even though she didn't actually own a watch. "Three.. Two.. One.."

James looked up, a squeal of glee in his eyes as he rushed over scooping their new arrival up in a huge. "Cousin, so glad you've come over to our side of the family."

"Enough pleasantries James." Jessie pushed at her wire frames. "He's not your cousin any longer but your brother. He's Team Rocket now."

-Author Notes.-

All author notes (including today's) will be posted in my author bio instead. Each time I update I'll change the note. As well as randomly before I make an update. Thank you! -Romantic


	8. A New Team Rocket!

8

Ash continued to day dream of younger days, fun times with friend and his mother, holding his flier up as if he was actually reading it. A person walking by would have never suspect any different, but anyone who walked up to Ash would have noticed the happy glaze over his eyes. Pikachu knew better, of course, even with out looking. He never bothered Ash when he drifted like this unless there was something important to focus on, often being an easy pokemon battle Ash had forgotten to care about. Ash counted on Pikachu for that, and Pikachu never failed him. Ash reached over, rubbing his best friend between his ears.

"Pikaa pipichu?"

Ash shrugged, slowly pulling himself away from the memories of days past."Just thinking, nothing important." Ash took slow notice of the booths directly around him. The sun had warmed up a bit, and Ash grasped it with an invisible hand before turning back to the paper that he clutched to. "Accounting club, glee club, bike club..There's a long list of sports clubs. Isn't being in the sport like being in a club?"

"Pi pipipi."

"Yeah, I suppose not everyone can be talented." Ash skimmed further through the listed, surprised at how many different accounting and computer technique clubs there were. "Book club, baseball club...Oh, you've got to be kidding me." Ash was near tears now. He suddenly knew where his best friend was at, and couldn't find it more hilarious. "Come on Pikachu, we have a destination."

"President of the beer pong club, really Brock?" Ash could only shake his head once they had reached the booth. Somehow pressed right between "Cheer leading club" and " Nurses for a safer Campus" organization, Ash couldn't figure out how Brock managed such a wonderful place in the crowd.

"Ash!" They man-hugged, there was women around after all. The sappier reunion could be postponed till later.

"How did you manage such a wonderful location?" In all honesty the booth was at the very end of the block in a side path hidden by some pine trees. If there hadn't been a large sign for the cheer leading club and a map, Ash may have missed it all together.

"Oh, lady luck smiles on me everyday." Brock was talking to Ash, there was no question about it, but Brock's mind and eyes were well occupied with other important issues. There were so many mini skirts and nurse outfits around, Ash was surprised that Brock was still standing. The hearts that filled his eyes should have clearly blinded any lesser man by now. And the insulted slaps following each way ward glance would have shamed men and crumpled boys. Never Brock, born with cheeks of steel he continued forward enduring strikes and glares.

"Beer pong club? You'll get lots of ladies with that."

"Booze and babes my dear friend. And having my own house by a lake never did hurt anything."

"You know Mist is here as well?"

"In town?"

"No, at S.T.U."

"No shit, really? She still that little tomboy mermaid following you around till she got a new bike?"

"Not quite." Ash chuckled.

"HELLO MISS!" Brock was waving one of his pink pamphlets at a petite cheer leader, already forgetting their small talk. She gave him a quick smile over her shoulder and Brock just about melted. Ash shook his head, snatched the paper from Brock's hand.

"Brock, this just had your phone number on it." Ash showed Pikachu the delicately folded blank sheet with a heart and Brock's name and number written in the middle of it.

"Yeah, I know. It's a great conversation starter."

Ash then eyed the stack of brochures on Brock's booth. "Brock, are any of those actually about your club?"

"No, like anyone needs to know what beer pong is all about."

Ash supposed that was true. "So, what's up. Are we still on for tonight?"

"Yeah. And the first official beer pong club meeting is tomorrow, if you'd like to be an official member."

"How can you even have a beer pong club? Isn't there laws in place."

"Ah, hem. There's no drinking in this club, it merely reviews the physics involved with beer pong. It also studies the effects of alcohol on a persons mind while trying to formulate math and physical requirements involved with the trials."

"So college has done you some good."

"They didn't stick Professor in front of my name for nothing." Brock was a teacher with an honorary Masters in pokemon nutrition and health. In between teaching Brock was working towards an actual doctorate it in the subject. Which was tricky, since for most students Brock's classes were a requirement for any degree on the subject. "Anyway, a few other younger professors help me come up with it. They might be there tomorrow as well."

"Only you could turn beer into a school function. How'd you clear this with the S.T.U. Anyway?"

"There is absolutely no drinking in this club Ash Ketchum." The mischief on Brock's face was amusing. "This club is merely about the scientific standing on the physics and how to predict and measure the arcs of the ping pong balls. Lastly, we study the effects of alcohol with control groups and non control groups and how the reaction effects the success of reaching the desired target."

"... Who came up with that load of garbage?"

"Some math and science nerds that helped me get the club approved."

"I didn't figure the nutrition specialist had managed something like that. And anyway, isn't that something that should, I don't know, end up on a pamphlet about your club?"

"Sure, but it almost feels like false advertising. You coming around tonight?"

"You bet-"

"Ash Ketchum!" Ash was promptly attacked by a sea of blue. "Ash!"

His ears rang. Ash could see Pikachu squirming to get away. "Jessica..?"

"Ash, have you seen my brother? I've been looking all over the place for him, but with all these people here I can't seem to find anyone. " Jessica finally detached from Ash and Brock was quickly by her side, star struck.

"My dear, poor lady. I would love to help you find your long lost brother! Afterward, maybe you could help me find your heart!"

"That's so wonderful! Thank you!" There was a pause, Jessica's eyebrows lowered and she tilted her head to one side. "Wait... Where's your heart?"

"Stolen just now by a beautiful blue haired vixen!"

"What a terrible person! I will absolutely help you find her as well!" Jessica nodded excitedly. "We can help each other."

Brock turned to Ash, no longer confident he wanted to follow her anywhere anymore.

"Well, Romeo, after you." Ash bit his lip holding back a smile.

"Romeo, is that your name?" Jessica grabbed Brock by the arm, pulling him away from his table. Ash followed gleefully behind them, hoping someone was going to take over Brock's booth for him.

Misty was surprised how large the supposed "mini" mall was. Located in the student center's basement it could have rivaled any mall near the area. Near a hundred small shops circled a food court with ten different food stalls. Two of the food stalls were made just for pokemon, and thus the entire areas was filled with pokemon. Above the food court was a false skylight, many TV screens pressed together streaming the real sky based on cameras attached to the roof of the student center. All in all Misty stood somewhere between impressed and awe struck.

Misty and Togepi spent the next few hours shopping. Picking up supplies for classes, clothes and some fresh pokemon food a cute little kiosk was offering.

Pleasantly happy with her bags of goodies, Misty was surprised to still have some energy even after spending twenty minutes trying to get Togepi out from under a large display he managed to get stuck under. It took two people helping Misty to get the display moved so the crying egg could be set free. He now cuddled in her arms, happily snoozing away.

Awkwardly juggling the bags Misty made her way back to her dorm room, feeling she should take a nap to preempt any pain before it could wear her out. At least by now Ash would be long gone, off being nosy and bullheaded somewhere else.

When Misty reached the door she dropped her packages and rummaged inside the faux leather bag for her keys.

"Hey sexy."

Misty looked up, instantly annoyed. Now, leaning against her door blocking her path was some young college punk. Locking her jaw in annoyance, Misty mentally counted to ten.

"I said hi."

"You said hey, and I ignored you. Get. Out. Of. My. Way." Misty enunciated every syllable, attempting through gritted teeth to keep her words soft even despite the rudeness.

"Look, you're all worked up. We can go into your room and...ah... relieve.. some of that stress." There were two other boys chuckling in the background.

Unfortunately for them it was too late to rescue their friend. Misty clenched her fist, and pulled back. Her arm screamed like a rocketship into space as it flew true into his face. The boy fell like a damaged rag doll to the floor, blood streaming from his split and swollen lip onto the tile carpeting.

"I am so sick and tired of being a victim this week!" She was screaming, though Misty didn't realize it. She didn't even know she was speaking really. Her throbbing hand barely brought her back to earth. She was done with this reality of tragic events, and she would reject it at any cost. Grabbing a pokeball from her purse she focused her attention like a hateful beam of light on the rest of the group. " Your friend picked the wrong bitch to mess with. Get rid of him, or I'll get rid of you."

Lasers and bullets must have been shooting from her eyes because the other boys quickly scooped up their friend and dashed off leaving only their spouting apologizes as they ran.

Finally getting inside Misty started throwing things, any and everything. Still cradling a sleeping pokemon in her arm, she screamed unintelligibly between her actual words. " What. The. Fuck. Is. With. This. Whole. Fucking. Week."

Crash.

Smash.

Clang.

Dash.

Shoes, plates, papers even a box of tampons were victims of Misty's wrath . Anything Misty could grab and throw just had to wait for the inevitable destruction she wanted to cause. It wasn't until her room had gone from boxed clutter to disaster and she had run out of tears and anger that Misty finally calmed down.

Surprisingly, like a rushing stream, Misty suddenly felt fantastic. As if punching that boy may have lifted her curse. Oh what a wonderful moment, Oh what a wonderful day! She wasn't a victim, no longer a weak woman in need of a man's strength and cunning. She had just punched the strength right out of one in fact. Misty could handle herself! The blood on her knuckles proved it. Joy sprung to her eyes, and she hugged tightly at Togepi.

"From now on Togepi, things will be as they used to be." She smiled to herself. "Finally."

Togepi made no sound. He had slept through the whole experience. Misty smiled at her baby, and after tossing the debris out from his basket, she put him to bed. Turning to the rest of the room, with fists on her hips she knew what she had to do. It was time to move in. Time to clean, time to unpack. Time to make what she previously had felt to be her worse nightmare her home.

He had to pry James off; it wasn't as easy as it seemed. With the grip of a small child to their mother's leg, Alex felt like he needed the jaws of life. Adults shouldn't act in such a way, only misguided and miss taught children. "James. Really?" There was some sort of loving garble coming from James, something about family reunions and Alex's mother. All of which Alex couldn't care less about. That wasn't why Alex was here.

It wasn't until Jessie reached up grabbing James by his hair and pulled at him did he finally moved. "Down James." She barked. "Don't be such a fool."

He whined at her. "But Jessie, I'm just so happy. Of all the people in all the world, and we've taught so many." James lay sprawled in the grass in front of Jessie, tilting his head back so he could see her.

"You're just a fool. You'd never act like this on a mission, you shouldn't act like this now." Jessie scolded back. "We're still on a assignment, even if we're not in the action."

James seemed to mature back into adult hood (after another second of wordless complaints), pulling himself to his feet. He coughed, pretending as if nothing happened, and brushed himself off.

"You'll have plenty to do."

"Alex, we've trained before. We're only here for advice, you see." Jessie corrected Alex. nose snubbed in the air flaunting her experience at him. Alex internally fumed at her, making a mental note to fully memorize the limited rule book and use it against Jessie later.

"I have studied the manual already." That was a small lie on Alex's part. "I passed my plan with the boss, nit wit." That was not. Though the insult was minor, Alex already knew Jessie wasn't found of intellectual discourtesies. She had made that clear at her wedding, it had been the only other time he had ever met her. And though James and Jessie seemed happy at the time Alex remembered each side of the attending family with plenty of complaints about the other side. Jessie, too bossy and demanding, James too ignorant and distracted. James, who Alex still thought leaned sexually in a different directions, Alex had known most of his young life. One of Alex's Mother's favorite nephews, James was over often, no advance notice necessary . With so many children filling her house, his mother was happy for the available help.

" We are a two person team on a long term mission, but we are going to need some short term chaos to make it work." Alex couldn't get distracted by past remembrances so quickly. If he was this easily inattentive so early on there was no hope for future plans.

"Well, the best way to teach is by example." Jessie was giddy, Alex could only assume because she didn't want to teach him as much as he didn't want to learn from her.

"You will have the dirty work, I do have to say. My sister and I can not accomplish this alone, I'm afraid."

"Which sister is that?"

Alex did, in fact, have five sisters and one older brother. The babies were identical twin girls, hardly able to speak let a lone join Team Rocket. He had two older sisters of no identical persuasion, one married and living near the Sea Foam Islands, the other was traveling the world as an actress of no real talent (how she made so much was beyond him). That left only one sister elligable. Instead of answering the idiotic question with such an obvious answer, Alex opted to stare at his cousin till James slowly formulated the answer himself.

"...Oh. I guess there really is only one other choice..."

Alex answered with sarcastic applause while Jessie smacked James upside his head.

"Moron, quit asking questions with such obvious answers." Being so easily irritated, Alex was surprised the group survived Jessie's light triggered wrath. "What's the plan my young Rocket?"

"And does Meowth get a piece of the pie?" Meowth had been quiet up till now, but Alex still opted to ignore his comment, keeping his attention on Jessie and James. Alex didn't feel a pokemon should have any more power than his trainer allow and Jessie and James allowed too much for Meowth in Alex's mind. No matter, Meowth question would be answered in time.

"Chaos dear sister, chaos." Alex racked his hair back, proud of the plot he had devised.

The four grinned, the sort of grin if someone else was around would cause the outside party to run. Grinned of mischievous joy, and the future filled them.


	9. Brock's Place or mine?

9

They wandered around for a few hours before realizing they had no idea who Jessica's brother was. Ash and Brock weren't sure Jessica knew who her brother was. Or, possibly, that her brother really liked hats. Jessica went around, removing the hat on every man around. Then she would stare at the person for a moment, apologize and hand the hat back. Once or twice Ash and Brock found themselves playing interference between Jessica and a very angry man wanting his hat back.

"Jessica, what does your brother look like?" Brock cringed as Jessica stared back at him, a blank slate.

"Well, he changes his mind often." Jessica nodded, sure that it was the correct answer.

"Ash, could I talk to you for a moment." Brock excused them from Jessica, and pulled Ash off to the side. "Where did you find this piece of work Ash?"

Ash chuckled. "I didn't really find her, she found me I suppose."

"Think she'd go out with me?"

Ash just stared, unable to fathom after all of this why Brock would want to date her. But then again, it was Brock. So, he shrugged. " I wouldn't know Brock, but it's not like anyone could ever stop you from trying."

"True." Brock grinned. " Oh Miss Jessica!" He jogged back, locking arms with her. Ash just laughed, skipping to catch up with the two.

It wasn't too much longer before they finally gave up, opting to follow one of the random trails that generally headed towards the dorms instead. Ash was still cold, a gentle wind bringing a chill off of the ocean water made him shiver. In brief periods between the breeze he could feel the warmth from the sun trying hard to fight the turning of the season. Brock and Jessica did most of the talking, Ash following closely behind, barely listening. His mind wasn't anyway where in particular, just drifting between random thoughts and reliving old pokemon battles in his head. There were always flaws to be worked out of any match win or lose. Sometimes only relying on his memory meant Ash would make up parts of a battle that never actually happened, convincing himself he needed to train harder because of it.

"So, how old is your brother?"

"Twenty-two."

Ash drifted back into Brock and Jessica's conversation.

"Is he your step brother? I thought that you were twenty as well."

"Twenty-two as well" Jessica nodded. " I'm five minutes older. He has always been mad about it."

"Are you twins?"

She nodded again. Ash and Brock both couldn't help but cringe as they imagined a ruff looking Jessica with short blue hair and facial stubble. The look may have not been so insulting if they both had not stuck her brother in one of the tight dresses Jessica was inclined to wear.

They shuttered in unison, shaking the image from their minds. Jessica didn't seem to notice.

"Well, if your free tonight I'm having a small get together at my place."

"I'd love to, but I should really get back to my room. My brother wanted to talk to me, he'd probably be upset if I took off without telling him."

Brock wasn't easily deterred. "Why not invite your brother as well?"

"We would end up meeting him sooner or later." It was half ass logic, Ash knew, but if having Jessica over would make Brock happy what else were friends for? Ash really couldn't care less about Jessica's brother, but he figured since they were twin they were probably connected at the hip.

"Oh wonderful!" Jessica pecked Brock on the cheek.

Brock melted, of course. Ash could see the proverbial hearts bursting from the man's chest.

"I need to run to my dorm. You boys don't mind, do you?"

"I'll carry you there if you'd like!"

Misty stood, hands on hips, triumphant. Her room sparkled, her bags and boxes unpacked. Her pokemon even shimmered, indulging in a bubble bath while she scrubbed till her tiny world gleamed. The last of the bad luck swirled down her tub drain, as brown and grimy as her dorm room used to be. The walls, the ceiling, the floors and the fridge. Nothing was left lack luster.

Everyone neatly in their pokeballs, the only sound was the musical cooing of Togepi all wrapped up in his wicker bed.

Covered in her soft cotton towel Misty finally let herself fall into bed. She lay on top of the covers, surround by pillows of all shapes and colors, blissful. Her back felt amazing, and her knuckles were only slightly bruised. Over all, she counted the day a success.

Mentally she started on a list of things she still needed to do. For the most part they were small things, like decorations and nick naks to make the place feel more her own. Two points of her list screamed at her for attention.

Homework and a phone call home.

Both made her groan. She rolled over, pressing her face into the bed. Homework was easily procrastinated. Misty had the weekend to go over the work loads for each class. Three of the classes had issued required reading already, one asked for a small work pamphlet to be filled out before Tuesday. Calling her sisters was more work than she wanted at this point. Pushing it off would only cause more grievances between them, and more traveling time. They had already threatened that if she didn't call often enough they'd just drive up to see her without notice.

She had just closed her eyes, embracing the warmth in her room when there was a thud at the door.

"MIST! YO! MISTY!" There was no mistaking Ash's obnoxious bellow. The college's attempt at creating sound resistant walls and doors were matchless against Ash Ketchum's vocals.

"Ash, quit screaming. There's other people in this building you know." The second voice was halfheartedly hushed, and scolding. The man was still loud enough that Misty could hear it carry through the thick wood door though. There was a tone to it that reminded her of someone, but she couldn't really remember who.

"PipipPI!" -And of course Pikachu. Ash's favorite friend and accessory. At least Pikachu is cute, otherwise Misty would never let Ash near her. Plus Pikachu and Togepi got along so well.

Rolling from her bed Misty trudged towards the door, flinging it resentfully open. "Ash Ketchum! What in god's name is wrong with you?"

"Why aren't you dressed?"

Misty ignored him, peering at the two figures shadowed behind him. She smiled, recognizing the man (and now the voice) in the dimly lit hallway. "Brock...?" Brock stepped forward, arms extended, embracing her as a friend. "It's been such a long time! I'm excited to get caught up."

Brock stepped back slightly and grinned. "Well, if I had known you were that excited I would have come alone." He chuckled teasingly, and Misty blushed despite herself. She had forgotten about the towel.

"Oh, I'm being rude. Please come in." She wouldn't have been quite so friendly if the stranger they'd brought with them wasn't there. Tall, blue hair, beautiful Misty felt that she vaguely may have recognized her, but mostly in a sort of passing way. Maybe she had seen the girl in the hallway, or around campus at some point. She supposed it didn't matter much though. Though Misty did wonder why such a pretty girl would be hanging out with these two jokers "I'm sorry. Let me toss something on. It shouldn't be more than a moment."

"Mist, what the fuck!" Misty stumbled slight as Ash grabbed her by the shoulders, spinning her forcefully so that her back was facing Ash.

"Ash Ketchum! Let go of me right now!" Misty struggled slightly, but confusion and her towel kept it minimal. She had already hit one boy today, she was alright with adding another. Especially if it was Ash.

"Misty, what happened to your bruise?" He rubbed at her back, acting as if it hiding from him. Brock and the other girl looked on, obviously confused.

"Don't be a jerk Ash. If you wanted to tell them I hurt myself you didn't have to make such a scene."

He spun her in a circle, grabbing by her shoulders again so she would stay in place. Misty looked down, using her hair to cover her new shade of red. The look of concern on his face made her sorry she had yelled at all.

"Brock, Jessica. Is there a bruise on Misty's back?" Was it that apparent to Ash that Misty had assumed he was teasing her? With recent spats between them, she supposed so.

With the resounding no, Ash racked her hair from her face so he could look at her. "How did you recover so fast? The doctor had said at minimum at least a week"

"I don't know. I was wondering why I felt so great today. Besides, doctor's always assume the worst and hope for the best. Maybe he just didn't want to get my hopes up."

"Maybe we should go back to the doctor.."

"I doubt miraculous healing is a subject most doctors are well read in." Brock pointed out. "I would know, I'm a doctor."

Ash chewed his lip for a moment.

Misty wondered if Brock was really a doctor. She vaguely remembered her sisters mentioning that the previous Pewter city gym leader had gained an honorary degree in something. When they traveled together, she recalled his exuberance towards pokemon breeding but she thought that top at a bachelors.

Misty made a mental note to bring it up later.

"You're probably right." Ash finally concluded, still sounding doubtful overall.

"So I can get dressed now?" It was rhetorical, Misty was already moving quickly towards her closet before she finished her sentence.

Grabbing a pair of jeans and a t-shirt with a swirly screen print pattern on it Misty rushed into the bathroom to change. She hadn't forgotten that she had originally planned to blow Ash off, but could hardly turn down the invite in front of Brock. She had nothing against him after all. And Misty now had the added concern of her sudden healing. Though she was inclined not to look to much into it as long as she stayed mended.

Ash was happy Brock had been dropped off. He preferred to drive, especially the road down to Brock's house. It twisted, full of beautiful trees and mountain peaks from islands dotting the distant ocean. The town was in the opposite direction, so there wasn't as much traffic in this direction. Brock attempted small chatter the entire way, but the girls seemed as entranced by the scenery as Ash was. Jessica would banter a bit, but Misty was quiet the whole way there. Ash worried about her, wondering if something was wrong.

"Hey Mist."

She grunted something of an answer, still staring at the window like the clouds would fall from the sky if she didn't.

Ash nudge her lightly with his elbow. She had had such a bad week, he worried about her. "We're almost there. What do you think?" It was a terrible attempt at conversation, but Ash couldn't think of anything else. He couldn't tell what she was feeling, and that bothered him.

"What do I think about what?" Her tone was soft, not the normal snap Ash was used to.

He wished he could read her mind. Jessica and Brock had started some sort of dialogue behind him, but Ash wasn't interested. He was too concerned with Misty now. "The..scenery..?"

"It's nice. Good day for a drive."

Ash nodded. "Brock's place is pretty impressive as well." The timing was right, they were pulling into Brock's house as he spoke. What the girls hadn't realized was the last ten minutes of the drive had just been Brock's driveway. The man had made a fortune in pokemon health and nutrition, and had much to show for it.

As they pulled up Brock's lake house came into view. The back wasn't so impressive, a two car garage with stair wrapping up them to the back door of the three story house. Small window's dotted the back wall, but nothing with any sort of flare to it. Brock clicked a remote on his keys, opening the garage. As they filed out Ash noted that really, four or five cars could fit into the garage, but Brock only had the one small car. It made the space look much larger in comparison. They went through the door attaching the garage to Brock's house, to a hallway with a glass wall and a staircase to the other end.

"Ladies, this is my lab." Brock turned to Jessica with a wink. "This is where all the genius happens."

The lab was large, with small port windows lining the top around the ceiling letting light into the room. Machines and beakers lined tables filling the room. Pokeballs lined the back wall on well lit healing shelves.

"It's so stuffy down here." Brock motioned towards the stairs. "Shall we?"

Ash trailed behind has Brock lead the group up the stairs. He'd already been here a few times, and knew how inflated Brock's ego to show the place off. Ash was pretty convinced Brock would live in a hole in the ground if it impressed the ladies.

Upstairs was the living room and kitchen, which were open to each other. The ceiling here was high, and the outside wall was nothing but glass, leading out to the largest deck Ash had ever seen. It framed the lake glittering on the other side, that Brock also owned. The kitchen was against the glass wall, and was mostly marble and stainless steal. The living room was dark oak and rich leathers with a large television and an amazing gaming system. All the floors were wood or tile, only a few rugs dotted around.

The girl's jaws were on the floor, Ash knew the feeling.

"Brock, how did you manage...this?" Misty sat at one of the bar stools on the brunch counter that separated the living area from the kitchen.

"Apparently individual health management is a lucrative business. I take appointments here and there to create a special diet for the individuals pokemon based on needs and tastes. The pokemon love it and are healthier for it, so I can charge a shit ton and they buy it up."

Ash was surprised Brock didn't go into the part where half of his money went to his siblings, and the other half into research for creating pokemon food for all the local pokemon centers that would allow for the highest nutrition for the largest span of pokemon. Brock bought this house, and a small car. Almost everything else is given away. That impressed Ash more than anything, but if Brock wanted to mention it he would have.

"There will be a few more people here later on. I hope you guys won't mind." They didn't.

Ash joined Pikachu on the sofa, his little yellow friend had found a soft pillow in a sun spot to curl himself up in. Ash sunk into the couch, pulling his hat over his eyes. Brock was still talking with the girls about some of the details of the house. Brock deserved every inch of this house, Ash was proud of his friend.

A while later Ash could hear people filing in, and smell food. When had there been food made? Had he fallen asleep? Probably on both counts. Ash tilted his hat up, peering out. Jessica was sitting next to him now, conversing with someone Ash didn't recognize.

"Good morning sunshine." She had spied him, and placed a hand on his knee. "Did you have a good nap?"

Ash nodded, searching around for Pikachu, who had now curled himself in a cubby hole in the bookshelf near the television. Apparently all the seats had been taken. "Pikachu." Ash got his attention, and patted his lap. Pikachu took up the invitation, dashing across the room and curling himself up on Ash's lap instead.

"Never too far from a friend?" Jessica scratched Pikachu behind the ear.

"Pikachu's more like a brother. We're practically bound by blood now."

Ash noticed Misty now, surrounding by guys with a drink in hand off in the corner. He was jealous, though he wasn't about to admit it to himself. Which just made Jessica's invite a little sweeter.

"Want to walk down by the beach? It's beautiful out right now."

It was later in the day now, Ash noticed. How long had he been asleep for? It was seven or eight now, Ash guessed, so around three hours. He couldn't believe no one had woke him up yet. Ash took one last look around, noting that even Brock was occupied with a crowd. "What do you think Pikachu? Want to go for a walk?"

"Pikachu." Pikachu agreed sleepily, crawling up to Ash's shoulder.

Ash stood up, stretching, then extended a hand out to Jessica. "Shall we?"

Jessica took his hand with a smile, and lead Ash out the door to the balcony and down the stairs.


End file.
